René Mels ( 1909-1977) - Composition abstraite lyrique vers 1950

This paper work by René Mels, created in the late 1950s, is part of a phase of great gestural freedom for the artist. It fully reflects the climate of European lyrical abstraction after the war, where gesture, rhythm, and pictorial writing become essential vectors of expression.
Descriptive sheet

Artist: René Mels (1909–1977)
School: Belgium
Abstract composition
Late 1950s
* Technique: Mixed media techniques on paper (watercolor, pastel, and ink).
Dimensions: 38 × 31 cm
Signed at the bottom right
Unframed sale
Provenance: Private collection

Condition of preservation

Overall condition: good condition, small visible creases.
Remarks: The work is well preserved. The paper shows good durability, and the pigments retain their freshness and their intensity.

Description of the work

The composition revolves around a dense and vibrant center, made up of an entanglement of quick, overlapping, and nervous strokes. The gesture is spontaneous, almost calligraphic, conveying a direct and energetic execution. The lines cross, repeat, and disperse towards the edges, creating a strong sense of movement and depth.

The palette, dominated by deep blues, blacks, greens, and yellow and orange accents, brings a subtle chromatic vibration.

The lightness of the paper support enhances the immediacy of the gesture, while the layering of the strokes suggests a temporality of the creative process. The work evokes an interior landscape or a transforming organic form, without explicit figurative reference.

Artistic and stylistic context

This work clearly belongs to the European lyrical abstraction movement of the late 1950s. Through its gestural writing, energy, and direct relationship with movement, it can be compared to the research conducted at the same time by Georges Mathieu and Hans Hartung, major figures of gestural abstraction.

It includes:
The primacy of gesture and execution speed.
A pictorial style close to calligraphy.
Nerve lines and rhythmic lines structuring space.
A composition based on energy rather than on geometry.

These approaches place the work within a shared aesthetic context, without the notion of direct imitation. René Mels maintains a more internalized and poetic approach, where color plays a role in sensitive modulation and balance.

Artist Biography

Born in Herent-lez-Louvain in 1909, René Mels trained at the academies of Louvain and Brussels, then at La Cambre. He was a member of the Jeune Peinture belge as well as the group Art Abstrait, playing an active role in the renewal of Belgian painting after the war. His work evolved from an initial expressionism towards increasingly free, gestural, and interior abstraction, before reaching, in the 1970s, a more structured synthesis. René Mels died in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.

This work from the late 1950s is a strong testament to René Mels's gestural period, clearly part of the major European lyrical abstraction movement. Through its recognizable references, quality of execution, and pictorial energy, it represents an attractive piece for 20th-century abstraction collectors.