Architecture du livre

🪵 Frame: Black or natural wood shadow box (user’s choice)

With Architecture du Livre, French contemporary painter Sophie Dumont delivers a masterful interpretation of the library as a visual structure and metaphorical edifice. Measuring 100 x 100 cm (39.37 x 39.37 in) and 107 x 107 cm framed (42.12 x 42.12 in), this square-format oil painting transforms bookshelves into a rhythmic architecture of knowledge, order, and emotion.

Working exclusively in oil, Dumont applies color in layered, textured strokes using primarily the painting knife. The result is a surface both tactile and nuanced, where every book spine feels like a sculptural presence. Here, books are abstracted into chromatic modules — vertical and horizontal blocks that evoke memory, silence, and time suspended.

The palette is quietly elegant: nuanced whites, warm ochres, deep blacks and greys, punctuated with earthy reds and pale sky blues. The composition is organized on four structured tiers, as if the viewer were gazing at the architectural grid of a building — hence the title. Yet the rigor of the layout is softened by the organic variation of each volume, echoing the unique story or energy they might hold.

This piece belongs to Dumont’s celebrated “abstract libraries” series, collected internationally and featured in museum and gallery shows across Europe and North America. It exemplifies her poetic language — where painting is both construction and contemplation.

Details:
🎨 Oil on canvas
📐 Size unframed: 100 x 100 cm / 39.37 x 39.37 in
🖼️ Framed size: 107 x 107 cm / 42.12 x 42.12 in
🪵 Frame: Black or natural wood shadow box (user’s choice)
✅ Signed lower right – Original artwork with certificate of authenticity