René Mels (1909-1977) - Atelier du sculpteur - 1950

Artist René Mels (1909–1977) – Belgium

Sculptor's workshop
Technique: Oil on paper
Dimensions: 63 × 47.5 cm
Signature: Signed and dated 1950 at the bottom.
Date: 1950
Condition: Good condition
Framing: Sold without supervision

Inscriptions: Handwritten inscription on the back, in pencil, seemingly referring to a workshop (partially legible mention).

Description of the work

This oil on paper dated from 1950 depicts a structured interior scene, composed of stylized figures and volumes reminiscent of sculptural forms. The organization of space, the presence of objects with massive silhouettes, and the hieratic posture of certain figures suggest a possible interpretation of the scene as a sculptor's workshop, a theme frequently explored by modern artists through a synthetic and constructed approach.
The shapes are deliberately simplified and treated in flat areas, giving the whole an almost architectural dimension. The color palette, balanced and subtle, combines muted blues, ochres, browns, and bright yellows, creating a harmonious interplay between depth and surface. The brushwork is firm, controlled, yet retains a certain gestural freedom.
The work is distinguished by the clarity of its composition and by the tension between readable figuration and formal construction, characteristic of René Mels' plastic research in the early 1950s.

Artistic context

At the turn of the 1950s, René Mels was in a crucial transitional phase of his artistic journey. Not yet fully abandoning figuration, he was moving towards simplifying forms and rigorously structuring the pictorial space, foreshadowing his evolution towards abstraction.

Studio scenes, real or suggested, provide Mels with an ideal setting to explore the relationships between volumes, masses, and rhythms, independent of the narrative subject. This work fully illustrates this approach, where composition takes precedence over description, and where the figure becomes a fully-fledged plastic element.

Biography of René Mels (1909–1977)

Born in Herent-lez-Louvain, René Mels studied at the Leuven Academy, then in Brussels, before continuing his studies at La Cambre. An important figure in the Belgian post-war art scene, he was a member of the Jeune Peinture belge and the Art Abstrait group.
His work gradually evolves from expressionism and structured figuration to a refined abstraction, based on the balance between constructive rigor and chromatic sensitivity. He passed away in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, leaving a body of work recognized for its coherence and poetic depth.

This work from 1950 is a significant example of René Mels's intermediate period, combining stylized figuration, spatial reflection, and a search for formal balance. The possible evocation of a sculptor's studio enhances its iconographic and historical interest within the artist's body of work.