and allowed them access to the port of Antwerp and northern Germany, opening the road to Berlin and leading to the end of the war. Montlaur is mentioned by Cornelius Ryan in his book The Longest Day and his role was played by Georges Rivière in the 1962 film adaptation. The Artist After the war, Montlaur and his wife Adelaide left for the United States, he studied at the Art Students League of New York and painted feverishly. After two years in the US, he returned to France where he would live until his death. The Cubist Period Montlaur's paintings faithfully followed the cubists rules of the group "Golden Section" (Gleizes, Metzinger, Gris, Léger, and Duchamp). He was inspired by the principles laid out by Gino Severini (a friend of his) in his book Du Cubisme au Classicisme, where colours are determined in an almost mathematical formula. Montlaur was prolific during this period, he demonstrated rigour, as well as accuracy and precision of his eye and hand. Montlaur returned to France in 1948 and moved to Nice until 1953. He spent his time between Nice and Paris where he found his friends, members of the dynamic group Réalités Nouvelles (Atlan, Poliakoff, Schneider, Chapoval, and Soulages). Montlaur's first solo exhibition was in March 1949 at the Galerie Lucienne-Léonce Rosenberg. The Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris bought one of his works at this exhibition. Geometric Abstraction In 1949, the Galerie René Drouin edited the translation of the Vassily Kandinsky's Du Spirituel dans l'art et dans la peinture en particulier (Über das Geistige in der Kunst). Kandinsky's paintings and ideas become models for Montlaur. In October 1949, at the 16th Salon des Surindépendants, Montlaur exhibits his first abstract painting La Baie des Anges (1949). In a letter to Montlaur dated 6 January 1950, Gino Severini wrote: "I am sure that this period of abstraction is useful to you. But always leave the door open." Montlaur exhibited for a second time at the Salon des Surindépendants, but finding that their style did not correspond to his, he moved to the Réalités Nouvelles where he exhibited until 1958 alongside Atlan, Chapoval, Soulages, Schneider, Kupka, Vasarely, Herbin, Nell Blaine, Ellsworth Kelly, Jacques Duthoo, Poliakoff (peintre)|Nicolas Poliakoff... Montlaur exhibited at the Galerie Colette Allendy in 1951 and 1954. This gallery was founded by the widow of Dr. René Allendy who had prefaced Severini's