In 1976, Serge Lemoyne happily returned to abstraction, taking up, until the end of his Bleu, Blanc, Rouge cycle, the enigmatic triangle that had appeared in the mid-1960s in his works on paper. A favourite form, explored from every angle, the triangle occupies the whole surface, multiplied or alone in the middle of the painting, pushing the boundaries of the artist’s formal lexicon. In 1976, Lemoyne produced about 10 square-format paintings (76 cm × 76 cm), revisiting the sports referent from a formalist perspective and abandoning any direct reference to hockey in favour of pictorial and expressive qualities. Some works from this period were included in the exhibition Serge Lemoyne, Peintures récentes 1975-1976, presented at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1976.
Outlined in a light wash, the composition of Sans titre (1976) is dominated by three emblematic solid colours. Two full triangles—the blue set within the white, with one open point—are in close dialogue with the surrounding red mass, exposing a patch of bare canvas to the left and bottom of the painting. The immaculate upper part of the painting contrasts sharply with the lower half marked by tricolour drips and spatters. The composition feeds on this tension between gesture and formal virtuosity, using various permutations of colours and forms related to the triangle, typical of this period. These works are the precursors of the series Pointes d’étoile (1977–78), Les Étoiles (1979), and Période supplémentaire (1980). (A. L.)
