The Provocateur of the Subconscious Albert Matignon did not paint to please the salons of the Belle Époque. While his contemporaries were preoccupied with the light of the French countryside, Matignon turned his gaze toward the darker, more chemical corners of human experience. He was a painter who dared to confront the physiological and psychological effects of substances, a choice that set him apart from the safer, more decorative t…