Jean Miotte was born in Paris in 1926. He studied painting in Montparnasse with the artistis Othon Friesz and Zadkine. He had his first exhibition at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in 1953.

 

He is considered a representative of Informal Art and lyrical abstraction. Informal Art was an European movement that started in the post war period, which is characterized by the absence of traditional form and a redefined composition. Miotte was inspired by Rouault and Matisse, and because of that, he prioritize the choice of colors that are traced on the canvas. He also went through a figurative period before developing to a way of a more gestural painting. Miotte spent some time in the United States and was influenced by renowned artists such as Rothko, Calder and Lipchitz. Because of that, he started a more descriptive work, with marked contrasts, using wider supports.

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He wanted to create a universal language defined by abstraction and the notion of movement and gesture.

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Miotte's works have been exhibited in many museums and galleries all over the world, including the Musée d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, the Museum am Ostwall in Dortmund, the Saarlandmuseum in Saarbrücken and the Pinakothek in Munich. In 2002 he opened his own foundation in New York with a permanent collection of works.

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He passed away in 2016.