book "From Cubisme to Classicisme". According to the art critic Michel Ragon, "all viable new work is exhibited by Madame Colette Allendy." Colette Allendy also exhibited work by Hartung, Soulages, Mathieu, Stahly, Wols, Corneille, Bryen, Doucet, Schneider, del Marle. The art critic Roger van Gindertael wrote: "We see a young man like Guy de Montlaur wanting to escape from the lack of strength of formalism, whose syntax had achieved a dangerous level of perfection and let loose on this order the power of disruptive but beneficial expressions, because they open doors for other rhythms and arrangements (Galerie Colette Allendy)." Expressionist Abstraction In 1953, Montlaur and his family settled in Fontainebleau. His painting became more geometric and more linear. It moved away from Kandinsky and Severini, and lost its allegiance to the neo-constructivism of the Réalités Nouvelles. Montlaur exchanged the paintbrush for the knife and palette. He broke away from form and contours. His paintings took on a fantastical, dreamlike, disconcerting aspect. One sees the intimate relationship with his favourite poets: Baudelaire, Verlaine, Nerval (the title of the painting Divertissement pour une nuit de janvier, 1955, makes reference to Nerval's death on 26 January 1855). Valery and especially Guillaume Apollinaire accompanied him during his war years: he had Alcools in his bag when he landed on 6 June 1944. The book had traces of sea water on it. His lucidity and intransigence meant he wanted to expose the truth at any price, alone against everyone. His friend Albert Béguin tells him in a letter dated 1957: "Now you show your true violent nature." In May 1956, Guy de Montlaur finally moved to Paris with Adelaide and their children. Lyrical Abstraction Montlaur was wounded to the face by shell fragments at the landings of Walcheren and these are painful and prevent him from sleeping. The doctors were not able to operate to remove the multiple fragments of tungsten that were lodged in his eye. Montlaur attempted to transcend his physical and emotional pain by increasing his creative activity. His painting became mystical (La chute de l'ange, 1960) and expressed an intimate inner spiritual battle. In 1961, Montlaur returned to serving in the navy, first with the Bataillon de Joinville, then in 1963, at the Service Historique de la Marine, in Paris. He devoted all his energy to his work, to the detriment of his art. For nine years, he painted at night,