• Artist: Maryse Casol
• Sennelier Oil on Cotton Canvas
• Stretcher: Linden Wood by Bambino Gianfrancesco (Museum Quality)
• 48" x 38" - 122 cm x 97 cm
• Made in Canada
• Signed Casol, bottom right
• 2009
• Photography: Daniel Charpentier, Denis Boisvert, Mickaël Casol
• Cinematography: Juan Rodriguez (Marbella, Spain)
Listen to the Manifesto
Painted in 2009, Exaltation stands as a masterwork of Abstract Realism. While other compositions by Maryse Casol explore quietude, this canvas captures an irresistible vital impulse. It does not merely represent nature; it crystallizes the rising of the sap and the spirit’s aspiration toward the higher spheres of intellect and spirituality. It is a bold fusion of Italian Renaissance rigour and the raw energy of modernism.
“The tree stands as a metaphor for the elevation of the spirit through knowledge, rooted in the sensible world and reaching toward the intelligible. It embodies the perpetual renewal of life and the momentum of transcendence.” — Maryse Casol
In this work, the tree is no longer a simple landscape subject; it becomes an ontological reality. By dematerializing forms into flat planes (aplats) and employing pure pigments, the artist deconstructs matter in favour of the sacred. The tree becomes the logos—a stable structure where serenity is born from the acceptance of the immutable cycles of existence.
The palette of Exaltation is a manifesto of Ontocolorism—the study of being through colour.
• The Vermilion Red of the tree symbolizes passion and the vital principle of life in full theatricality.
• The surrounding Blue acts as a transition toward the infinite, a space where reality transmutes into the imaginary, evoking the thirst for the supernatural described by Kandinsky.
• Yellow and Green complete this trinity, providing sacred light and the promise of immortality.
Technically, Exaltation utilizes a frontal horizontal composition typical of Post-Fauvism. By placing the protagonist at the very edge of the canvas with minimal spatial entry, Casol forces a direct confrontation between the work and the viewer. The truncation of elements creates a kinetic-temporal dynamism: the image appears to continue beyond the frame, suggesting that light and movement are the true subjects of the piece.
The physical integrity of Exaltation meets the strictest international conservation standards. Utilizing Sennelier oils (historic supplier to Cézanne and Picasso) and mounted on a custom linden wood frame by master craftsman Bambino Gianfrancesco, this work is designed as a long-term asset. The choice of linden wood, superior to pine for its stability against climatic variations, ensures this piece will endure through centuries as an unalterable object of patrimonial transmission.
2026: Edition of the philosophical and technical manifesto in collaboration with Gemini AI, structuring the intellectual heritage of the work for future generations.
2024 - 2025: Retail presence through Casol Collections at Jean Coutu and Metro (Griffintown, Montreal).
2021: Academic recognition in the book Creative Minds in the Art World (Maria Elena Paganini), launched in Marbella, Spain.
2018: Featured centerpiece of the Enchanted Forest exhibition at the Sofitel Montreal, attended by film and music industry leaders.
2013: Selected by Google Arts & Culture (Paris) for high-definition digital archival.
2009: Created in Montreal as part of the "Je Suis Une Fauve" collection.
