"A glimmer tracing the curves of a subject: that was the visual poetry Olivier sought to capture. From that ray of light emerged a geometry that shifted with inspiration and gesture. For Olivier, everything began with an encounter with light… The man who smiled with his eyes loved to sculpt light. I like to think that his light is still with us." — Natacha Dassault
In November 2017, Rueil-Malmaison had already hosted Grand Angle, du figuratif à l'abstraction, the photographer's first major exhibition at this venue, bringing together more than one hundred works. Olivier Dassault liked to say it was his largest exhibition. This exhibition was also an opportunity to introduce the Olivier Dassault Endowment Fund, created by his wife Natacha to preserve, share and promote both the photographer's body of work and the artistic movement to which it belongs.
Olivier Dassault was deeply attached to the idea of bringing people together through his work: 'Today, art seems to me a means, if not the means, of reconsidering our world, reflecting on its essence, grasping the deeper truth we may have missed, and doing so together.' From adolescence onwards, photography became a true revelation. Faithful to his Minolta XD7, this many-sided figure devoted part of his life to capturing the moment on film.
Over more than forty years, his work evolved from spontaneous abstractions to improvised compositions shaped through multiple exposures and in-camera superimpositions. Gradually freed from the constraints of realism, Olivier Dassault explored colour and form as forces of creation. Each work captures a fragment of life in which light meets matter, inviting us both to behold the world's beauty and to preserve it. A fleeting image is held in still eternity.