Born in Russia, Serge Poliakoff (Russian, 1906–1969) was a Paris-based painter associated with the European expressionist Taschisme movement and the CoBrA group. Poliakoff fled his home city of Moscow during the Russian Revolution in 1917, and made his way from Constantinople to Paris over the course of six years, supporting himself by playing the guitar. In Paris, he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where he worked in a traditionally academic style.
On a 1935 trip to London, however, he encountered the abstractions of Egyptian art and, influenced by the work of Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), Robert Delaunay (1885–1941), and Otto Freundlich (1878–1943), developed his own style of abstract painting featuring interlocking areas of color. In the 1940s, his palette was confined to variegated shades of grey and black, while in the 1950s, he expanded his selection to include bright colors. By the 1960s, Poliakoff was an established painter and earned an entire room in the 1962 Venice Biennial. At the end of his life, he suffered health troubles, leading to the production of smaller scale paintings and lithographs. He died in Paris in 1969.
Serge Poliakoff - Cheim & Read, New York City, NY
Serge Poliakoff - Silent Paintings - Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
Serge Poliakoff - The Dreams of Forms - Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - MAM/ARC, Paris
Serge Poliakoff – Gouaches De 1948 À 1969 - Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris
im Studio: Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Boisserée, Cologne
Serge Poliakoff - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pont-Aven, Pont Aven
Serge Poliakoff - Lorenzelli Arte, Milan
Serge Poliakoff - Architekt einer bildnerischen Poesie - Galerie Ludorff, Dusseldorf
Serge Poliakoff - Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris
Rétrospective Serge Poliakoff - Beaux-Arts Mons (BAM), Mons
Serge Poliakoff - Neuerwerbungen auf Papier - Galerie Art 204, Dusseldorf
Poliakoff - Fondation Fernet Branca, Saint-Louis
Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Proarta, Zurich
Serge Poliakoff - Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich
Serge Poliakoff – Retrospektive - Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden
Serge Poliakoff - Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld
Poliakoff - Rétrospective des gouaches - Musée de Millau et des Grands Causses, Millau
Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Art 204, Dusseldorf
Serge Poliakoff - Original und Grafik - Galerie Art 204, Dusseldorf
La Saison des Gouaches - Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris
Serge Poliakoff - La saison des gouaches - Musée Maillol - Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris
Serge Poliakoff (Moskau 1900 - 1969 Paris) - Galerie Döbele GmbH, Dresden
Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Proarta, Zurich
Serge Poliakoff - Eine Retrospektive - Museum Würth, Künzelsau
Serge Poliakoff: Bilder, Lithographien aus der Erker-Presse - Erker-Galerie, St. Gallen
Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg
Serge Poliakoff - Galerie Proarta, Zurich
Serge Poliakoff - Farbträger: Stille - Galerie am Markt, Schwäbisch Hall
Poliakoff: Gouaches, 1944-1969 - Galerie de France, Paris
Serge Poliakoff - Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden
Poliakoff - Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds
Retrospective, Fabre Museum Montpellier, France
Exposition Poliakoff, Tel-Aviv Museum Tel-Aviv, Israël
Retrospective, Despiau-Wlerick Museum Mont-de-Marsan, France
Galleria del Naviglio Venice, Italy
Retrospective, Maison de la Culture de Caen Caen, France
Retrospective, Saint-Gall Museum
Retrospective, Whitechapel Art Gallery London, England
Biennale de Venise, Venice, Italy
Efteraars-Udstilligen, Palais Charlottenborg Copenhagen, Danemark
International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Carnegie Institute Pittsburgh, PA
50 ans d'Art Moderne, Brussels, Belgium
Centre des Recherches Paris, France
Salon de Réalités Nouvelles, Paris, France