At the beginning of the 20th century, Picasso and Braque, followed by Schwitters and many other artists, enchanted art lovers with their papier collés. Then, exhibited for the first time in 1949, Matisse's papiers découpés astounded with their boldness and energy. Enthusiastically, Nicolas de Staël threw himself into the adventure in 1952, offering us a series of masterly works, some of which were reproduced as lithographs.

Maurice Estève, too, was not to be missed. After a few attempts in the 1950s, he produced around sixty collages between 1963 and 1965, and returned to them regularly until the end of his life. Tubes of colour, scissors, glue, and all the jubilant spontaneity of childhood is summoned up.

The flamboyance of colour, the exploration of form, the interplay of elements in a quest for balance and dynamic tension - these collages, composed of previously painted and cut-up paper, mark a profound renewal in the artist's work. A creation of total freedom, quite distinct from his canvases and watercolours.
For the 1996, 1997 and 2000 calendars, Maurice Estève produced three series of collages, which were silk-screen printed by Dubois Imagerie for its museum in Bourges.
This one, taken from the thirteen collages in the 2000 calendar, illustrates the month of April.