BMPT Art: Challenging Tradition Through Collaborative Artistic Collaboration

BMPT was a Paris-based group of four painters active during the Modern period (late 19th-mid-20th centuries). Collectively, these artists defied conventional artistic ideas, concepts, and models. They instead embraced original ideas that promoted abstraction and the concepts of Minimalism in France during the 1960s.

BMPT existed alongside, and directly influenced, the Supports/Surfaces Movement (late 1960s–’70s). Supports/Surfaces was carried by a loosely-knit group of young artists who also resisted the traditional esthetics of art. Though BMPT art is still relevant today, the group lasted only a year before disbanding. Nevertheless the ideas embedded in this movement sent a lasting, jarring message to both consumers and other creators of art. Below, learn more about the unique designs these artists used to convey their message and the unified approach they took to carrying an artistic movement.

The origin of the BMPT art group

BMPT emerged in 1966. Its name was derived as an acronym from the surnames of its constituents: Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier, and Niele Toroni. Notably, the group did not refer to themselves as painters despite this being their medium of choice. 

BMPT art was founded on the idea of challenging the traditional methods of art-making. The group radically critiqued long-established assumptions about art and rejected the idea of commodifying it. In fact, after eight hours of painting on large canvases at the Salon de la Jeune Peinture in January 1967, the artists removed their work. They replaced their paintings with a banner reading “Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni do not exhibit.” 

Though removed as a form of protest, the completed canvases displayed each of the artist’s individual styles — BMPT art was far from monolithic. Viewers attending the exhibition received handwritten tracts in which the artists laid out their manifesto and defined their approach to making art. Part of the manifesto read:

“Since to paint is to paint for the purpose of aestheticism, of flowers, of women, of eroticism, of the everyday environment, of art, of dada, of psychoanalysis, of the war in Vietnam.

WE ARE NOT PAINTERS.”

The artists also aimed to create art that defied individual authorship. BMPT art promoted collaboration, a dissolution of individual identity, and collective art production. For this reason, the artists often signed each other’s work.

The BMPT Artists: Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, and Toroni

In their short time working together, the BMPT artists created works that illustrated their unique approaches to abstraction while prioritizing collectivism. Below is more about each of these artists and their contributions to BMPT art.

Daniel Buren (1938)

Daniel Buren was born in 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburban town just west of Paris. Buren’s artistic journey began in the mid-1960s when he gained recognition for his bold and unconventional approach to making art. His famous “interventions” involved the use of alternating vertical stripes, often in bold contrasting colors. This became his signature style.

Buren’s interventions are site-specific works that transform ordinary environments into thought-provoking, immersive experiences. He has often referred to his works as “in situ” — art that has become one with its surroundings. A great example is his exhibition “To Align: Works in Situ 2017.” In this exhibition, he used area lighting and bold, contrasting stripes to transform building spaces into mesmerizing works of art.

Perhaps the most famous of Buren’s works is “Les Deux Plateaux” (1985), also known as “The Buren Columns.” This outdoor exhibit includes more than 250 tall and short, black and white striped columns in a grid in the Palais-Royal, a courtyard in Paris. Visitors who wish to walk around the area must weave in and out of the pillars. Some of the columns extend beneath the ground, alluding to the historical ties between the past and present of Paris.

Explore work coming to auction by Daniel Buren

Olivier Mosset (1944)

Born in Switzerland in 1944, Olivier Mosset‘s artistic career spans back to the 1960s. His work is often associated with abstract expressionism. He relocated to Paris in the 1960s and eventually became associated with the BMPT art movement. 

A minimalist aesthetic, with a focus on geometric shapes and repetition, characterizes many of Mosset’s works. He strips away all unnecessary elements, leaving only the essence of the artwork. Similar to Buren, Mosset rejects the notion of artistic authorship and seeks to engage the viewer in a direct experience with the artwork itself.

Mosset often paints on large-scale canvases with a single color, exploring the power of simplicity and the impact of a singular hue. Of all his works, particularly those from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, his most famous are from his “Untitled” series. This collection comprises about 200 near-identical oil paintings, and each one features a bold circle in the middle of a white canvas. Mosset signed none of them.

Explore work by Olivier Mosset coming to auction

Michel Parmentier (1938–2000)

One of the key aspects of Michel Parmentier‘s work was his commitment to the idea of art as non-subjective and inexpressive. Simplicity, clarity, and precision were among his hallmarks. 

Parmentier was most known for his paintings of bold horizontal stripes, each 38 centimeters high, on large canvases. During each of the three years he created these paintings, the artist adopted a new color as the focal point of his works. Starting in 1966, he used blue. In the following years, he used gray and red, respectively.

Parmentier used the pliage technique, which he borrowed from conceptual artist Simon Hantaï, to create these pieces. For Parmentier, this method involved folding a canvas and painting the exposed surface. He would then unfold the surface and reveal the stripes. This borderline rote process dovetailed with his focus on non-subjective, inexpressive creation.

Browse work by Michel Parmentier coming to auction

Niele Toroni (1937)

Born in Muralto, Switzerland in 1937, Niele Toroni is a minimalist artist. Over the course of his artistic career, Toroni has always used a no. 50 paintbrush to apply paint at regular intervals of 30 centimeters on his canvas. He debuted this technique during the BMPT group’s Salon de la Jeune Peinture exhibit. 

This method, which Toroni later used almost exclusively to compose his works over the years, became known as “travail-peinture.” The many works that Toroni has created through this technique are titled “Imprints of a no. 50 brush repeated at regular intervals of 30 cm.” He used these individual strokes to create various shapes and designs. He aimed to use precision to separate his art from the concept of meaning.

Discover work by Niele Toroni coming to auction

The Cultural Significance of BMPT Art

Contemporary public reactions to BMPT art varied. While some embraced the movement’s unconventional nature, others struggled to connect with it. For example, for some, Buren’s boldly striped, 20th-century columns playfully interact with the traditional architecture of the monument, giving it a new lease of life, while of others they constitute an eyesore and visual pollution.

Such controversy escalated strongly in 2007, when water leaks compromised the structure of the columns and the courtyard needed repair. Many people opposed the idea of restoring the columns and called for their demolition. Before repairs began, however, the columns were also listed as a historical monument to ensure their protection and secure the funds required for its 15-month restoration project (which took €5.3M).

While Buren’s public work may have drawn significant ire, BMPT art has been critically popular and commercially successful. The distinguished gallerist Marian Goodman, for example, hosted several exhibitions of Toroni’s work over the years.

In 2003, Toroni visited the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York to create a direct intervention there. Toroni also created new works on canvas as part of this exhibition. In 2015, the gallery presented another Toroni exhibition as well. Additionally, from November 2021 through January 2022, the Marian Goodman London + Projects gallery displayed recent and historic Toroni works. The exhibition comprised “travail-peinture” paintings that Toroni created between 1991 and 2002.

BMPT Art: The Meaning That Lived with the Movement

The BMPT artists dedicated their work to reducing art from grandiose shows of symbolism and skill to merely the application of paint to a canvas. Ironically, though their signatures aren’t on their canvases, their names have been engraved on plaques beneath their works in museums and exhibits around the world.

Society has primarily continued to view art as a commodity in the post-BMPT years. However, credit is due to the movement that prompted people to consider and accept, even if for a moment, that art is not art. Plus, today, styles such as minimalism parallel BMPT art — the movement’s impact on the present day, though subtle, is traceable.