Within Peinture, 29 Mai 1965, the luminous hues of the central segment appear to glow as a result of the encroaching areas of deep black at either side, black signalling paramount importance for Soulages throughout his career. The artist recalled that his earliest works were influenced by his discovery of black tones in nature, making particular reference to the sight of tree branches silhouetted against the sky: “Was my childhood fondness for bare trees due to my love of black as a colour? Or was it the other way round? Did I begin to love black because of the trees in winter without their leaves; because of the way the black trunks and branches stood out against the background of sky or snow, making them look brighter by contrast…” (Pierre Soulages in conversation with Bernard Ceysson in: Bernard Ceysson, Soulages, Bergamo 1980, p. 60). In its play of light and dark and the striking combination of black with warm crimson tones Peinture, 29 Mai 1965 arguably recalls the appearance of a sunset sky glimpsed through trees, revealing the continuous influence of these early memories of the natural world on Soulages’ painting of the time. Soulages was also strongly inspired by the rugged carved monoliths and menhirs that abound near Rodez in Southern France, the place of his birth: the powerful solidity of the paint surface, alongside the stalactite-like drips of paint across the centre of the canvas within Peinture, 29 Mai 1965 arguably pay homage to these primeval formations.

During his first exhibition in the United States in the 1950s, Soulages’ painting was compared to the work of the Abstract Expressionist artist Franz Kline in its scope and pioneering approach to abstraction: “Both these painters with significant differences in method seem well along the royal road to a new absolute expression; both are making significant history in the drama of contemporary abstract painting…” (Sam Hunter quoted in: Pierre Encrevé, Soulages, L’oeuvre complet, Peintures, I. 1946-1959, Paris 1994, p. 158).Yet, whilst the strong gestural nature of the paint surface within Soulages’ work does indeed invite associations with the paintings of the American Abstract Expressionist artists, in particular Kline, Soulages is much more deliberate in method, anchoring each sweep of pigment irrevocably in place on the canvas with authoritative precision. Soulages has consistently resisted attempts to categorise his painting through chronological means, declaring that: “I don’t depict. I don’t narrate. I don’t represent. I paint, I present” (Pierre Soulages quoted in: 'Interview with Michael Peppiatt', Art International, November-December, 1980). Soulages’ corpus is thus imbued with an air of timelessness, transcending conventional limitations of era or decade to project a singular beauty of form, colour and texture. Peinture, 29 Mai 1965 eloquently conveys this sensation of universality and immutability, and stands as a significant exposition of Soulages’ ground-breaking painterly style and technique of the 1960s.