Marcus de Vestele (1941-2024) - Untitled

Artist: Marcus de Vestele (1941–2024) Belgium
Title: Figure lying Cobra – 1974
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 108 × 78 cm
Signature: Marcus, bottom right, dated 1974
Condition: Good (old tear restored on the leg, about 3–4 cm)
Provenance: Collection of the artist's family
Sold unframed

Description
Created in 1974, Figure lying Cobra illustrates Marcus de Vestele's full artistic maturity, a period during which he explores the tensions between figuration and abstraction in the Cobra movement's lineage.
The composition features a figure lying down, bathed in a warm, vibrant light. The ochre, yellow and orange tones collide with the dark masses in the background, creating a dramatic contrast that lends the scene an almost introspective intensity.
The brushwork, broad and energetic, conveys the spontaneity of the gesture and the search for a balance between emotion and structure. The contours of the body, sometimes erased, sometimes outlined by a sharp black line, evoke the struggle between form and matter, between presence and disappearance.
This work testifies to Marcus de Vestele's pictorial mastery, able to combine expressive power and chromatic sensitivity in a composition of great psychological depth.

Context
In the mid-1970s, Marcus de Vestele continues a plastic inquiry nourished by the Cobra group spirit, sharing its gestural freedom and emotional force.
His works from this period, often centered on the human figure, translate a quest for inner truth through painting material. The lying figure, a recurring motif in his work, becomes here a symbolic projection space: between retreat and tension, light and darkness, embodying the duality of being.
Figure lying Cobra thus fits into the continuity of this exploration, where color and gesture become vectors of a raw and sincere emotion.

Shipping
The work will be shipped flat, carefully protected, ensuring its perfect preservation and safe delivery.
A rare and powerful piece, emblematic of Marcus de Vestele's Cobra period, ideal for collectors and modern art enthusiasts sensitive to the force of gesture and the depth of the material.