Elongated circles seem to flood the canvas. In L’aventure intérieure the image space opens up to accommodate their expansion, while in Mets de la couleur sur tes plaies vertical lines rapidly appropriate the space and dissolve gradually from the top part of the image, as though pulled down by gravitation. Seul face à l’immensité is the most formal manifestation of these developments.

Fais-lui confiance foreshadowed a rupture – a six-month break that allowed Jons to rethink his approach – while anticipating the series of Histoire d’eaux.

These four black and white paintings on the theme of water, made as part of a competition, would eventually signal a return to painting, a reconnection with its essence. In the retreat of a freezing studio, the water turned arctic, caught in swirling movements of densely applied paint.

Retourner à l’essentiel heralded a fragile return to colour and to subtle, vertical lines.