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A major bridge between Central European and French modernism, Josef Šíma created luminous, metaphysical compositions that radically transformed interwar abstraction, Surrealism and Symbolism.

Born in Jaroměř, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) in 1891, Šíma studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under the Symbolist painter Jan Preisler. A co-founder of the influential Czech avant-garde group Devětsil in 1920, he relocated to Paris in 1921, acquiring French citizenship in 1926 while maintaining vital cultural links between French and Central European modernism. In 1927, alongside poets René Daumal and Roger Gilbert-Lecomte, he co-founded the radical artistic group and journal Le Grand Jeu, serving as its artistic director and designing its iconic spiral emblem.

Throughout his practice, Šíma explored what the Le Grand Jeu writers termed 'experimental metaphysics', dismantling rigid distinctions between physical matter and cosmic consciousness. Working across oil on canvas, India ink, soft pastel and stained glass, his luminous compositions blended elements of Symbolism, Surrealism and poetic abstraction. His enigmatic iconography frequently featured floating torsos, cosmic eggs, crystalline structures, mythological allegories and landscapes dissolved in radiant, ethereal light.

Following a decade-long hiatus during and after World War II, Šíma shifted toward cosmic abstraction and experienced a major resurgence in the 1950s. Landmark projects and exhibitions included his participation in Documenta II in Kassel (1959), his stained-glass windows for the Church of Saint-Jacques in Reims and major retrospectives hosted by the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1968) and the National Gallery Prague. Šíma's work is held in prestigious permanent collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Gallery Prague, the Tate Collection in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Josef Síma