In 1976, Serge Lemoyne made a decisive return to abstraction to complete his Bleu, Blanc, Rouge cycle, featuring the enigmatic triangle that had first appeared in his works on paper in the mid-1960s. The triangle was among Lemoyne’s favourite forms. Explored from every angle—occupying the entire surface, multiplied, or set alone in the middle of a painting—it pushed the boundaries of the artist’s formal lexicon. In 1976, Lemoyne produced roughly 10 square-format paintings (76 cm × 76 cm) that revisited his sports theme from a formalist perspective, abandoning any direct references to hockey to explore purely pictorial and expressive concerns. 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 colours. The red mass, bordered by a strip of bare canvas on the left and bottom edges, surrounds two triangles: a smaller blue within a larger white one. The red, white, and blue drips and splashes, characteristic of Lemoyne’s technique, create an effective and striking contrast between the top and bottom planes. The composition relies on the tension between gesturality and formal virtuosity, following different colour permutations and formal variations on the triangle that were typical of this period. These works are the precursors of his series Pointes d’étoile (1977-78), Les Étoiles (1979), and Période supplémentaire (1980).
