Gérard GAROUSTE — Rare triptych “L’Ecclésiaste”. 1996 — Edition of 50. Signed and numbered 35/50

Important original colour lithograph conceived in the form of a narrative triptych, a major subject in the artist’s œuvre.

The composition is organised around a pared-down central panel dominated by a slender, hieratic figure (recalling the world of Don Quixote or the Preacher), flanked by two expressionist scenes rendered in powerful tones of ochres, dark earths and deep blacks.  

The work bears witness to Garouste’s fascination with sacred texts and the Hebrew language, incorporating two handwritten philosophical passages drawn from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (signed with its Hebrew name, Gohélet / Qohélet):  

On the left (Gohélet I, 17): “And I have seen life, one day evil to me, is the work that has been done under the sun, for all is vanity and pasture of the wind.”  

On the right: “For who has remembrance of the wise man with the fool for ever, since in the days to come all is already forgotten. And how the wise man dies with the fool.”  

Institutional reference: A similar impression from this same edition is held in the national collections of the Centre Pompidou / Musée National d’Art Moderne (inventory no. AM 2022-64).  

Original colour lithograph on heavy wove paper.  

Numbered 35 / 50 in pencil (highly confidential edition of only 50 impressions).  

Signed in pencil with the artist’s official monogram “MG” lower right.      

Excellent state of preservation, with remarkable freshness of the pigments.  

Museum framing: Exceptional bespoke presentation carried out by a leading Parisian workshop.

Float mount in a box frame: the work is fixed in a reversible manner, revealing the entirety of the deckled edges of the paper.   Cherrywood box-profile moulding, neutral conservation backing and museum-quality glass (anti-reflective and UV-protective).