.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
An important French visionary artist, Augustin Lesage began making his densely detailed works after an epiphany in 1911: "All of a sudden I heard a voice, a very clear voice, that said: 'One day you will be a painter.' I looked all around to see where the voice was coming from. There was nobody there. I was quite alone." Unlike many other Self-Taught artists, his works are art historically aware and are packed with reference to other cultures and religions, particularly Egyptian art. Indeed, he later contended that he was a reincarnated artist from the time of the Pharaohs. The obsessive amalgamation of saints and angels, presented with iconic frontality lends Composition Symbolique the feeling of a surrealist-imbued altarpiece.