In 1971, Jean McEwen started the  Laque des pays vastes, "Lacquers of a Vast Country" period, one of the most sensitive and luminous of his work. In these paintings, color becomes a living substance, a space in itself, surface and depth at once. McEwen continued his exploration of the mystery of light through superimpositions of translucent layers—veritable pictorial skins where the painter's hand effaces itself in favor of a chromatic breath.

The enigmatic and evocative title illustrates McEwen's penchant for double meanings. The word "lacquer" evokes both varnish, a polished surface, and the musicality of the word "lake." The artist thus plays between the sensuality of the material and the impression of a vast inner territory—an infinite land traversed by color.

In these Lacquers, fields of gold, carmine, or amber unfold like landscapes in flux. The center, often square, acts as a window onto another space, vibrant with luminous echoes. White mists sometimes rise from them, simultaneously veiling and revealing, while an inner light seems to emerge from the painting itself.

With this series, McEwen reaches a pinnacle of lyricism and technical mastery. Through color alone—in the words of Constance Naubert-Riser, “the artist conceives of space only through color”—he creates a world of sensations where painting ceases to be an object and becomes an experience.

The Lacquers of a Vast Country embody this alchemy unique to Jean McEwen: that of a painter-poet for whom each canvas is a territory of emotion, silence, and light.