Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Chat sur fond de silence - 2005

Artist: Robert Detheux 1932-2010 Belgium

The Cat against a backdrop of silence
Dimensions: 51 cm x 35 cm
Condition: Good
Signed and dated: Signed and dated 2005
Frame: Sold unframed
Shipment: Will be sent flat, carefully protected.

Robert Detheux – Series The Cats (2005)

Created in 2005, this work belongs to the series Les Chats by Robert Detheux. It is distinguished by its montage: the drawing is glued onto a page from a classified ads newspaper, previously tinted, with the materiality remaining fully visible on both the front and back.

Description of the work

The front depicts a frontal cat face, rendered in pencil with highlights of white chalk. The gaze, dense and slightly asymmetrical, forms the focal point of the composition. The overlapping strokes, sometimes almost scratched, create a continuous vibration, giving the figure a presence that is both assertive and unstable.
The cat seems to emerge from a gray substance, absorbed in an inner silence. The drawing is not complete: some lines extend, fade away, or are interrupted, emphasizing the idea of a partial appearance, never fully fixed.

Specificity of the support and back of the artwork

The back fully reveals the newspaper page used as a support. It is a printed paper of small advertisements, organized in tight columns, with typography remaining legible despite the applied tint. Traces of glue are visible at the corners, indicating the manual assembly carried out by the artist.
This verso is not just a simple technical reverse: it is an integral part of the work. The presence of these utilitarian, ephemeral, and anonymous texts strongly contrasts with the figure of the cat, silent and timeless. This disparity creates a subtle tension between the flow of everyday life and the poetic suspension characteristic of Detheux's universe.
The full visibility of the journal on the back confirms the artist's intention to preserve the memory of the support, without concealment or neutralization.

Artistic context

In the series The Cats, Robert Detheux explores the feline figure as a space of retreat and vigilance. The cat acts as an inner form, almost meditative, placed in opposition to the noise of the world.
The use of printed materials, here a page of classified ads, introduces a subtle surrealist dimension: the poetic image overlays a functional language, creating a coexistence between the invisible and the trivial, between dream and ordinary.

Comparison and influences

The relationship between the silent figure and the textual support evokes some late surrealist practices, where the image does not deny reality but is grafted onto it. The expressive sobriety and the slow gaze recall the rigor of Balthus, while the symbolic charge of the cat, isolated in its sovereignty, echoes the universe of Leonor Fini.

Provenance
The artist's family collection

Through its intensely expressive front and fully meaningful back, Le Chat on a background of silence presents itself as a complete work, where the support is not neutral but carries meaning. This piece vividly illustrates Robert Detheux's approach: to bring forth, at the heart of the most banal daily life, a poetic, silent, and enduring presence.