René Mels (1909-1977) - Composition abstraite chromatique encadrée

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Artist: René Mels (1909–1977) Belgian School
Title: Chromatic Composition
Date: End of the 1960s
Technique: Pastel and colored pencil on paper

Dimensions: 52cm x 42cm with the natural light wood frame and passe-partout.

Signature: Signed bottom right « R. Mels »

Condition of preservation

Provenance: Artist’s family

Description of the work

Created at the end of the 1960s, Chromatic Composition accurately illustrates the artist’s full maturity and his deep engagement with abstraction based on color and rhythm. Devoid of figurative reference, the work rests on a subtle dialogue between color fieldings and linear interventions that structure space without ever freezing it.

The luminous tones — pinks, blues, yellows, ochres and darker accents — organize into a vibrant weave, where each color seems to respond to the other in a fluid and controlled dynamic. The pastel, applied in vertical and horizontal strokes, gives the surface a soft, velvety texture, while the colored pencil reinforces the rhythmic legibility of the composition. Taken together, it demonstrates a assured mastery of color, used as a true autonomous language.

Artistic context

In the late 1960s, René Mels reached a particularly accomplished phase of synthesis in his artistic career. After exploring figuration and light effects in his landscapes and watercolors, he turned toward an abstraction that is both structured and lyrical, where color becomes the main vector of expression.
In Chromatic Composition, Mels achieves a remarkable fusion between plastic rigor and emotional sensitivity. The balance of colored masses, the transparency of pastel, and the musicality of visual rhythms convey an in-depth reflection on perception and the resonance of forms. This work is fully situated within the post-war Belgian abstraction, while asserting a deeply personal plastic identity.

A rare and authentic work
* Original work on paper, signed bottom right
* Created at the end of the 1960s, a period of full artistic maturity
* Rich, fresh, luminous chromatic palette
* Balanced composition, combining structure and freedom of gesture
* Direct provenance: artist’s family

* Representative piece of René Mels’ exploration of color as the central element of the composition

Biography of René Mels (1909–1977)
René Mels was a prominent figure in Belgian painting and engraving in the 20th century. Born in Herent-lez-Louvain, he studied at the Leuven Academy, then in Brussels, before perfecting at La Cambre. His work, initially influenced by Expressionism, gradually evolved toward a structured and luminous abstraction, focused on the relationships between line, color and space.
An active member of Jeune Peinture belge and the Art Abstrait group, he contributed to the modernization of the post-war Belgian artistic scene. His approach, based on formal rigor combined with a strong poetic sensibility, relentlessly explores the relations between light, rhythm, and emotion. René Mels died in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, leaving behind a coherent, demanding, and profoundly intense body of work.

Conclusion
Chromatic work of high quality, Composition chromatique stands as a particularly accomplished example of René Mels’ pursuit of color conceived as a universal language. Through its subtle balance between construction and poetic freedom, it powerfully illustrates the maturity and modernity of his abstraction at the end of the 1960s.