KLASEN Peter

Peter KLASEN (1935– )

Title: Fermé / Closed
Year: 1985
Medium: Original lithograph on Arches paper
Edition: Limited to 90 copies, signed and numbered in pencil
Copy: 29/90
Paper dimensions: 69 × 48 cm
Image dimensions: 56 × 44 cm
Publisher: Alexandre de La Salle

Please note, this work will be exhibited in the exhibition "Juste une illusion" organized by Frédéric Mette at the Espace Art et Liberté from September 25 to November 5, 2025 (3 place des Marseillais - free entry). If you wish to purchase this work, it will be available after the exhibition (for collection or shipping).

Description and Critical Analysis

With Fermé / Closed, Peter Klasen pursues his exploration of the industrial and urban visual language that defines his entire œuvre. Here, the artist stages the sign of prohibition or closure, condensing the cold and impersonal universe of technical and security environments.

The inscription “Closed” — literal and unambiguous — functions as both a mental and symbolic lock. It confronts the viewer with a barrier, reinforced by the tight framing and the frontal immediacy of the composition. The bold, contrasting colors, characteristic of Klasen’s aesthetic, heighten the tension between visual appeal and imposed distance.

This lithograph belongs to the artist’s wider narrative vocabulary: fragments of signage, metallic surfaces, safety codes. These elements become metaphors for a society of surveillance, where industrial objects replace human presence. The absence of the body, substituted with signs of exclusion or regulation, underscores the isolation of the individual in a world governed by systems of control.

Through its formal austerity and rigor, Fermé / Closed encapsulates Klasen’s poetic vision: transforming functional imagery into pictorial language, and turning industrial fragments into a critical mirror of modernity.

Biographical Note

Peter Klasen, born in Lübeck in 1935, is a major figure of the Figuration Narrative movement in France. Trained at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin, he moved to Paris in 1959, where he forged a distinctive artistic language.

His œuvre, deeply shaped by the trauma of World War II and the postwar industrial boom, appropriates the visual codes of modern society: signage, metallic surfaces, warning symbols, gauges, and fragments of technical objects. These elements often interact with depictions of the human body, particularly female forms, creating a persistent tension between desire and prohibition, intimacy and mechanization.

Exhibited since the 1960s alongside leading figures of Figuration Narrative, Klasen has achieved international recognition. His works are held in major public and private collections, and he continues to exhibit worldwide.