Paysage vide [Empty Landscape] is part of a series of views from above painted in muted earth tones by Zoran Mušič between 1959 and 1960. The artist was inspired by the mineral colors typical of Dalmatia in the Balkans, where he grew up. The landscapes of his childhood, which he revisited in 1956, appear barren and scattered with dark patches. This image, both empty and imbued with a hidden presence, may also evoke the Nazi extermination camp of Dachau, which the artist survived.

The depiction of landscape is a recurring theme in Jean Dubuffet's work. Le Voyageur sans boussole Traveller Without a Compass belongs to a series created between 1951 and 1952, titled Paysages du mental Landscapes of the Mind, which explores the chaotic emergence and disappearance of images in the brain. In this textured composition, the horizon line is set very high, emphasising a vast expanse of ground. The small figure wandering through the landscape blends into the thick, rough, formless matter.

From the 1950s onwards, Messagier turned towards abstraction, as seen in Franchissement de campagne [Crossing the Countryside], whose title evokes a rural landscape. This work belongs to a series of the same name, in which Messagier drew inspiration from the paths, irrigation networks, and hedges that shape the French countryside. The resulting compositions feature linear forms in muted greens, ochres, and blues. In this large-format piece, the artist adopts a cartographic perspective, evident in the frontal representation devoid of perspectival effects.

Between 1906 and 1907, André Derain made several trips to London, where he observed the industrial activity along the Thames. In this work, two barges are seen from a bird’s-eye view atop bridge, while the boatmen at work are reduced to mere spots of colour. The off-center, almost “photographic” framing lends the composition a sense of immediacy and movement. The spontaneity of the colours and the freedom of the brushwork make this painting a quintessential example of Fauvism.

In the 1950s, American artist Shirley Jaffe, then living in Paris, infused her work with intense gestural energy. In 1956, she was invited by the Kunsthalle in Basel to participate in an exhibition that explored the influence of Japanese calligraphy on Western art. For the exhibition, Jaffe submitted this painting, which draws on the Abstract Expressionist style that was popular at the time. The evocative landscape features a limited colour palette, predominantly consisting of shades of gray, black, and white.