Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Figure en transition

Work record

* Artist: Robert Detheux (1932–2010), Belgian School
* Title: Figure in transition
2007
* Dimensions: 50 cm × 36 cm
* Technique: Drawing and highlights on paper
Condition: Good

* State precision: Presence of stains, diffuse nuances, and intentional surface irregularities, fully integrated into the composition and the handling of the material.

Signature and date: Signed and dated 2007
Framing: Sold unframed

Sending: Artwork sent flat, carefully protected.

Robert Detheux – Figure in Transition (2007)

Created in 2007, Figure in Transition belongs to a late phase of Robert Detheux's work, characterized by increased formal refinement and a heightened attention to the intermediate states of form. The vertical and compact format heightens the sense of elevation and slipping, inviting a slow, introspective reading of the image.

Description of the work
The work consists of an elongated, vertical form, with soft and unstable contours, evoking an organic presence in transformation rather than an identifiable body. This figure, rendered in pale, slightly bluish tones, seems to emerge or dissolve against a dark, dense, and nuanced background, worked with washes, stains, and deep chromatic variations.
The line, at times precise, at times erased, suggests an upward movement or a gradual metamorphosis, as if the form were crossing a threshold. To the right, a barely sketched geometric construction, close to a frame or a perspectival volume, introduces a tension between mental space and structured space, between organicity and abstraction.
The whole thing exudes a silent, meditative atmosphere. The figure does not impose itself as a body, but as a trace, a transitional state, suspended between appearance and disappearance.

Artistic context
This work is fully in keeping with the continuum of introspective Belgian surrealism, where the human figure is progressively dematerialized in favor of mental and symbolic forms. For Robert Detheux, the transformation does not arise from narration or explicit fantasy, but from an inner shift, a sensitive exploration of the boundary between presence and erasure.
The contained rigor of drawing, combined with a controlled use of material, distinguishes their work from a more spectacular vein of surrealism. The reference to the body remains, but it is intentionally indirect, suggested rather than described.

Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932, Robert Detheux developed a singular body of work within the postwar Belgian art scene. His work, primarily focused on drawing, explores the liminal zones of perception and identity, in a graphic language that is both sensitive and rigorous. He died in 2010, leaving behind a discreet, rare, and deeply coherent body of work.

Provenance
The artist's family collection

Unique and original work, Figure in Transition constitutes a representative example of the maturity of Robert Detheux's body of work. Through its formal sobriety, its atmospheric depth, and its subtle relationship between figure and space, this piece speaks to collectors attentive to contemporary drawing, interiorized surrealism, and works where transformation remains suggested, silent, and restrained.