INITIALS
BB

A SERIES OF
ENCRYPTED PAINTINGS
BY JEAN-CLAUDE BOSSEL

The LETTER B
in four
orientations

The letter B is engraved repeatedly on each painting in the INITIALS BB series.

It evokes the initials of the French actress Brigitte Bardot.

The letter B appears in four forms: upright, reflected left to right, and sideways with its straight stroke either at the bottom or at the top.

Each orientation represents a digit: 0, 1, 2 or 3.

This allows messages to be encoded as sequences of digits in base 4.

ART &
MATHEMATICS

Alongside the base-4 system represented by the four orientations of the letter B, the paintings use black circles to encode binary digits.

Whether a circle is filled or hollow encodes a 0 or a 1.

Mathematical calculations determine where the letters and circles appear on the canvas as part of the CODE BACH® encryption process.

A love song
encrypted
in the paintings

Several messages in the INITIALS BB paintings draw on the lyrics of “Initials B.B.” by Serge Gainsbourg.

The messages are encrypted using the CODE BACH® process.

the twelve paintings
in the series
Initials BB

The INITIALS BB series comprises twelve small-format paintings, ranging in size from 21 × 29.7 cm to 40 × 50 cm.

Acrylic on canvas and mount board.

Painted in 2024.

iconic BB
sixty years after
the sixties

Over the past few years, our travels through Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East and Australia have shown us how much Brigitte Bardot still captivates audiences.

Her portraits can still be seen in hotels, restaurants and, of course, many art galleries, especially in the United States.

SIXTIES
FANTASIES

INITIALS BB is closely linked to two other series, PASSION SACHS and WEDDING IN LAS VEGAS, both represented in our current exhibition.

The three series explore different moments in the relationships between actress Brigitte Bardot, her husband Gunter Sachs and her lover Serge Gainsbourg.

SPRING 1966

Gunter Sachs declares his love for Brigitte Bardot by having roses dropped from a helicopter over her home in Saint-Tropez (inspiration for the PASSION SACHS series).

14 JULY 1966

Bardot and Sachs marry in Las Vegas (inspiration for the WEDDING IN LAS VEGAS series).

1967–1968

Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg become lovers.

He writes “Je t’aime… moi non plus” (I love you… me neither) for her, and they record it together.

With Sachs opposed to its release, Bardot asks Gainsbourg to shelve the release.

After their affair ends, Gainsbourg writes “Initials B.B.”, which is released in 1968 (inspiration for the INITIALS BB series).

A FOURTH SERIES
FEATURING A FOURTH
ICONIC FIGURE

The love stories explored in the three series above continue in HIT PARADE SIXTIES, a fourth series of twelve paintings.

The encrypted messages in this series turn to another figure from the late 1960s, the actress Jane Birkin.

She became Serge Gainsbourg’s partner shortly after his break-up with Brigitte Bardot.

Together, they became one of the most recognisable couples of the years that followed.

It was Birkin’s duet with Gainsbourg, released in 1969, that made “Je t’aime… moi non plus” famous.

The version he had recorded with Bardot was still unreleased at the time.

Click the photograph below to discover this fourth series.

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