This is a fine example of Jean Paul Riopelle’s late 1950s works on paper, executed during a transitional moment in his career. Jean Paul Riopelle’s Sans titre (c.1959), a gestural abstraction, is executed with sweeping strokes of blue, red, black, and white set against a pale ground, with drips and overlapping brushwork emphasizing movement and spontaneity. This richly painted work in oil on paper mounted on canvas is an indication of his transition in the late 1950s toward freer compositions.

Around this time, Riopelle was moving away from his signature palette knife mosaics and exploring more fluid, expressive approaches to painting. The energy in Sans titre is spontaneous yet controlled, with paint brushed and dragged across the surface in broad gestures. These works coincided with his time in Paris and his relationship with Joan Mitchell, whose lyrical abstraction informed this more open style. As such, the painting captures a pivotal moment in his evolution, where emotion and immediacy take precedence over structure, marking a key shift in Riopelle’s evolving abstract language.