Exercises by Staël, by Stéphane Manel: the ghosts of Nicolas

It starts like a movie. A car speeds through the night. Its headlights cut through the darkness. “He’s on board. » Who is that? Nicolas de Staël. The painter drives in his little 203. He leaves. But Stéphane Manel follows him. “Always.” » Since he was a child, the designer has been fascinated by the artist. After having illustrated Francis Bacon and Céleste Albaret, Proust’s last governess, he draws and recounts Staël’s last days in a magnificent graphic novel, at the confluence of biography and intimate investigation.

April 1987. Stéphane Manel is 16 years old. He knows nothing about the painter. However, during a visit to the Picasso Museum in Antibes, he discovered an immense canvas, “whose red explodes”. 3.5 meters by 6. His heart explodes, too. “On the balcony of the room, which overlooks the sea, Nicolas de Staël threw himself from these rocks, leaving this painting unfinished. » Waves follow words. Paint strokes. The brush hits…