A review of the retrospective exhibition of works by Simon Hantaï at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, on view through September 2, 2013.

"With more than 130 paintings, many of which were of outstanding quality and drawn from the Pompidou’s inexhaustible collection, the evolution of Hantaï as an artist became tangible. Instead of emphasizing the repetitiveness of his style, the curators had managed to draw attention to his paintings’ distinct features and the variety of processes employed by Hantaï… [The monumental painting Tabula's] blue color is bright enough to suggest light emitting from within, while it is just dark enough to create infinitive space. The subtle variations and glitches in each white square take away from the mechanical nature of the grid. It is as if we were witnessing the making of the grid: its frayed edges are wrapping themselves around each other and thereby strengthening the entire structure (or optionally: the grid is coming undone).