Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Figure de l’épuisement

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Robert Detheux (1932–2010) – Surrealist works on paper, 1976

Title: Figure of exhaustion
Date : 1976
Dimensions : 37cm x 27cm
Signature: Signed and dated at the bottom right.

Condition: Good overall condition.
The variations in material, the rubbing marks and the areas of apparent wear are intentional and fully contribute to the construction of the image.

Supervision: Not supervised

This paper-based work created in 1976 powerfully illustrates Robert Detheux's mature period, at the moment when the human figure becomes for him a vector of psychic tension and existential reflection, intimately linked to the handling of matter.

Artist
Robert Detheux (1932–2010)

Title
Figure of exhaustion

Date
1976

Technique
Work on paper, mixed media

Dimensions
37 cm × 27 cm

Signature
Signed and dated at the bottom right.

State
Overall good condition. The rubbing, scratches, variations in material, and areas of apparent wear are intentional and fully contribute to the artwork's plastic and expressive construction.

Framing
Unframed

Description of the work

The composition presents a frontal, compact figure, almost enclosed within the surface of the paper. The face is dominated by two circular shapes evoking a mask or an optical device, creating an immediate distance between the figure and the viewer. This rigid frontality, devoid of narration, lends the character an impersonal, almost functional dimension.

The body is treated as a dense volume, without descriptive articulation. It seems heavy, slowed, as if held in a state of permanent tension. The figure appears to struggle to emerge from the matter before dissolving back into it, creating an impression of physical and mental exhaustion, in perfect accord with the title of the work.

Meaning and scope of the title

The title Figure de l’épuisement guides the reading toward a condition rather than toward an individual. It is not a portrait, but the materialization of a state: that of a body and a mind brought to saturation. The exhaustion evoked is internal, silent, almost mechanical, which reinforces the universal reach of the work.

Work on matter and the surface

The surface of the paper plays a central role in the composition. It is worked by accumulations, rubs, imprints, and scratches, forming a dense and irregular weave. This material acts as a resilient envelope, partially absorbing the figure and blurring the boundary between the body and its environment.

The background evokes a worn, almost mural-like surface, marked by time and successive passes. The material is never decorative: it imposes a visual and tactile resistance that fully contributes to the work's expressive power.

Consistent style and artistic affiliations.

This work is part of a post-surrealist tradition of mental figuration, in which the human figure becomes the vehicle for psychic introspection rather than a narrative subject.

Relevant alignments can be established with:

Jean Dubuffet, for the raw frontality of the figure and the use of matter as an autonomous language.

- Antoni Tàpies, in the conception of the surface as a field of traces, wear and resistance

- James Ensor, in a more indirect way, in the use of the mask as a symbol of distance and alienation

These references position Robert Detheux within the demanding field of postwar European figuration, while highlighting the singularity of his language, characterized by formal restraint and a constant inner intensity.

Artistic context
Dating from 1976, Figure of Exhaustion corresponds to a phase of consolidation of Detheux's plastic vocabulary. The human figure is reduced to the essential, stripped of any anecdote, to become the site of reflection on psychic fatigue, inner confinement, and the conflicted relationship between the body and its environment.

Biography
Robert Detheux (1932–2010) was a Belgian artist whose work develops on the margins of the dominant currents, while maintaining a constant dialogue with Surrealism, Dadaism, and certain forms of existential figuration. Very early on, he preferred drawing and working on paper as privileged spaces of research, allowing him a great freedom of formal and material experimentation.

His work is characterized by a sustained attention to the human figure, often reduced to schematic or masked forms, as well as to the surface of the support, treated as a field of traces, wear, and resistance. In Detheux's work, the figure is never descriptive: it embodies mental states, internal tensions, or symbolic roles, oscillating between presence and erasure.

Over the decades, Robert Detheux has developed a personal, austere, and deeply introspective language that sets him apart on the Belgian art scene of the second half of the 20th century. His works from the 1970s stand among the most accomplished of his career, both for their formal density and for the quiet power of their psychological charge.

Provenance
Private collection, from the artist's family.

dispatch
The artwork will be shipped flat, in rigid, reinforced professional packaging specifically designed for the transport of works on paper, ensuring optimal protection.

Through its restrained force, its highly accomplished treatment of material, and the accuracy of its symbolic charge, Figure de l’épuisement constitutes a representative work of Robert Detheux's artistic maturity in the 1970s. It speaks to collectors who are sensitive to demanding works, capable of uniting visual density, psychological interiority, and enduring presence.