René Mels (1909-1977) - Composition abstraite - 1975

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Catalog entry for the work

Artist: René Mels (1909–1977) Belgian School

Abstract Composition

Date : 1975

Technique: Colored ink and washes on paper

Dimensions: 42.5 × 31.5 cm

Signature: Signed and dated at the bottom right, “R. Mels, 75”

Condition: Very good condition

Framing: Sold unframed

Provenance: artist's family

Description of the work

This abstract composition created in 1975 belongs to the late phase of René Mels's graphic work, characterized by a great gestural freedom combined with a confident mastery of space. The work is structured around flexible organic shapes, treated with broad washes, in a palette dominated by deep blues, purplish reds, warm browns, and nuanced grays.

Broad sinuous lines, mainly bluish, traverse the composition and establish a fluid movement that guides the eye from one element to the next. These curves are punctuated and sometimes countered by strokes of black ink, at times light and cursive, at times more assertive, which emphasize the volumes and introduce a subtle internal rhythm.

The paper's reserves play an essential role in the construction of light, allowing washes to breathe and to retain their transparency. The whole evokes a space in perpetual mutation, at once dynamic and balanced, with no direct figurative reference, where color and brushstroke engage in a controlled tension.

Artistic context

In the 1970s, René Mels favors an approach where drawing becomes an autonomous field of experimentation. The line is no longer strictly constructive, but acts as a free trajectory, accompanying and modulating color. This period is distinguished by a progressive easing of rigid structures in favor of a more fluid and more immediate form of expression.

The 1975 work presented here bears witness to this advanced investigation. The wash, applied in successive touches, creates a vibrant material, while the black ink ensures the graphic coherence of the whole. This dialectic between spontaneity and control fully characterizes the artist's late production.

Biography of René Mels (1909–1977)

René Mels was a prominent figure in Belgian painting and engraving of the 20th century. Born in Herent-lez-Louvain, he trained at the Academy of Leuven, then at the Brussels Academy, before pursuing his career at La Cambre. His work underwent a gradual evolution, moving from Expressionism to a structured abstraction, and then to a language increasingly centered on line, rhythm, and matter.

Active member of the Belgian Young Painting and of the Art Abstrait group, he participated in renewing the Belgian art scene of the postwar period. His approach, based on a constant tension between formal rigour and freedom of gesture, grants his work remarkable coherence and intensity. René Mels died in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, leaving behind a late body of work of great graphic and poetic strength.