Source: WTL© photograph from Pierre Gauvreau; Passeur de modernité. Québec: Musée de la civilization, 2014, p. 48.
Image: "À titrer" [To Be Titled] (1980). Acrylic and paper flag collage on four wood panels.
Comments: At first glance, many or most of Gauvreau's paintings appear to be standard abstract works. However, closer inspection, as in this and most of the rest of his paintings, shows clear, referential images or parts of such figurative images. In the case of the highly colorful painting above, we cut up paper pieces of many little flags of the province of Québec (see insert) on a four paneled polyptych.

Seeing the date (1980) of the work, this seemingly abstract painting can be correlated with the failure of the referendum in Québec in which the referendum's supporters called for national independence for the province. From this information, and knowing that Gauvreau has created a variation on the triptychs (three-paneled paintings on canvas or wood) that are often seen in Catholic churches, we can now begin to engaged in a dynamic understanding (or appreciation) of this work. Perhaps the following statement made by art critic Monique Brunet-Weinmann as a commentary on Gauvreau's works in the 1980s is also useful: "[He makes] a contemporary, postmodern re-interpretation of the canvas as a vedute (Italian for views) or windows often seen in the Renaissance" (Brunet-Weinmann, "La révolution tranquille de la peinture," Parcours, No. 12, Winter 1994, p. 14).
Humanities Question: Using the information in the comments above, write a brief reaction to and evaluation of this painting.