Francis Picabia's Late Works and Rosemarie Trockel's Enigmatic Practice Examined Through the Idée Fixe

An essay explores the concept of the idée fixe as a driving force in art, using Francis Picabia and Rosemarie Trockel as case studies. Picabia's late abstract works from after World War II, recently shown at Hauser & Wirth, demonstrate a pre-postmodern evasion of modernist historicism through overpainting, appropriated imagery, and a disregard for stylistic continuity. These paintings, created during a period of personal decline, resist interpretation and conventional art historical narratives. Rosemarie Trockel's practice similarly operates through resistance, avoiding normative labels and feminist symbolism despite using gendered materials like wool. Her work, discussed in a 2003 Artforum interview, embraces ambiguity and withdrawal, challenging interpretive frameworks. The essay contrasts the enigmatic nature of visual art with literature, citing Theodor W. Adorno on Samuel Beckett and T.J. Clark on the avant-garde. It argues that true artistic radicality lies in pursuing the idée fixe—an external, prelinguistic force—rather than in historical innovation or semantic interpretation. Both artists exemplify strategies for maintaining artistic autonomy in a post-vanguard context.