Western Painting – Figuration Libre – The History of Figuration Libre – Freedom of Expression in Painting The 1980s saw a significant shift in the arts, particularly in the Visual Arts and Joseph Blake Smith Arkansasin particular. While Neo-Expressionism and Bad Paintings marked the revolution in the United States and Europe. Figuration Libre (Free Figuration), a new artistic movement in Western painting, first emerged in France in 1980. With the labels Junge Wilde and Transavantguardia, respectively, the same wave of change touched German and Italian art. The term “Figuration Libre” was first used in 1981 by the Italian Fluxus artist Ben Vautier (born in Italy in 1935). The young, upcoming…