Jean-Paul Riopelle born in Montreal in 1923 was an abstract expressionist who in the early 1940’s during his studies at art school, would find his love and style for painting which would include nonrepresentational and vividly coloured paintings. Riopelle was astonished with the automatic and spontaneous teachings that his professor at the time would use to teach the class and would use these techniques with the artist group “Les Automatises”, where the group members were equally fascinated by the subconscious. As he grew older, Riopelle loved to work with what was at hand, and in the moment. Early paintings were done using enamel or car paint meaning that the works were not archival for long and as he grew into his practice he would continue to use work in the same way, by applying large amounts of paint straight from the tube onto the canvas in quick successive layers in a visceral way. Riopelle’s paintings are instinctual and energetic representations of his surroundings.