A pioneering work of conceptual art from 1884, featuring a solid red field that satirises the conventions of academic painting.

This work is a notable example of early conceptual art, created by the French writer and humorist Alphonse Allais. It belongs to his 1884 album, 'Album primo-avrilesque', which featured a series of monochrome panels. The piece consists of a solid red rectangle framed by ornate, black-and-white decorative borders. The title, printed below the frame, provides the only context for the image, inviting the viewer to imagine the scene described: cardinals suffering from apoplexy, harvesting tomatoes along the Red Sea, all under the atmospheric conditions of an aurora borealis.

Allais was a member of the Incoherents, a short-lived movement in late 19th-century Paris that embraced absurdity, satire, and the rejection of traditional artistic seriousness. By presenting a blank, monochromatic field as a narrative scene, Allais anticipated the development of minimalist and conceptual art by several decades. The humour lies in the disconnect between the mundane, literal description of the title and the complete absence of representational imagery. The work functions as a critique of the period's obsession with descriptive titles and the earnestness of academic painting.

The print is presented here with its original typographic elements and decorative border, maintaining the aesthetic of the 1884 publication. It is an essential piece for those interested in the history of avant-garde humour and the origins of abstract art. The stark contrast between the bold red centre and the detailed, monochromatic frame creates a visual tension that remains as provocative today as it was in the late 19th century.