The triptych entitled Sky No. 3 is a work by Jean-Marie Biwer (1957*), one of the most “intimist” contemporary Luxembourg artists. His work is inspired by the landscapes near his studio in Basbellain, a village in the Ardennes region of northern Luxembourg.

Since 1980, this versatile artist has been exhibiting regularly in Luxembourg and in Europe. In 1993 he represented Luxembourg at the Venice Biennale. His works can be found in many private and public collections. The MNHA has eight of them in its collections.

In this monumental work, the viewer finds himself immersed in a hypnotic sky of intense blue, comparable to Yves Klein’s blue. This blue colour invades the entire space, causing a feeling of completeness, a magical moment in an over-excited world. The composition, which extends through the branches of trees to the edges of the canvas, creates a feeling of unlimited joy and freedom. The few touches of colour – red, orange, green, like leaves on the trees – dance in the sky in a light breeze on this heavenly canvas. The composition shows great artistic sensitivity and encourages meditation.

The theme of branching trees, which according to the artist “seem to have lost both the memory of their origin and the sense of their destination”, is also reflected in another canvas commissioned by the MNHA, a large-format oil on canvas made up of small images. These tiny paintings resemble a web created by branches of trees. This work is part of the artist’s ongoing series entitled “A Wooden Sketchbook”. This kind of diary, a medium for self-reflexiveness, is also a platform for self-construction in which a potential and anonymous reader invariably becomes an integral part of the process.