Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Composition surréaliste géométrique






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Robert Detheux’s geometric surrealist composition, 1959, a mixed media on paper work (watercolour, gouache, ink and pencil) hand-signed, 33.3 × 23 cm, from Belgium, original edition and in good condition.
Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Geometric Surrealist Composition, 1959 - Mixed media on paper signed
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) Belgian School
Geometric surrealist composition, 1959
Mixed media (watercolor, gouache, ink and pencil) on paper
Signed and dated “Detheux 59” at the bottom left
Dimensions: 33.3 × 23 cm
Sold unframed
Condition: Very good overall. Vivid colors and intact contrasts. Natural traces related to the technique (overlaps, smudges and textures deliberately created by the artist). On the back, handwritten note “1959”.
Description:
Rare and very beautiful surrealist painting from 1959, a formative period for Robert Detheux.
A bold geometric composition where a large central triangle houses an intense blue circle, above a stylized and fragmented face with fine features.
Bluish organic shapes, black hatch marks and dynamic lines cross in a fragmented and dreamlike space.
Detheux, aged 27, already freely explores the dialogue between geometric abstraction, allusive figuration and surreal atmosphere.
The work reveals an early sensitivity to the tension between order and chaos, presence and dissolution, which would characterize his entire career.
An important document of his early work, both constructivist and poetic, with great freshness and beautiful color intensity.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Biography of the artist:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and died in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply likable figure of 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tournai from 1960 to 1996, while developing a personal body of work of great coherence and remarkable freedom, far from dominant currents.
His artistic career unfolds in several major periods: from the 1950s-1960s he asserts a powerful surrealist and expressionist language marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions; in the 1970s he explores with sensuality and obsession the theme of the female body; the 1980s-1990s see the flourishing of a more hybrid, grotesque and theatrical universe blending erotism, black humor and poetry; finally, the 2000-2010 period is one of total maturity with spectral portraits and appearances of great intensity.
Little exposed during his lifetime by choice, Robert Detheux independently created an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him. The recent unveiling of his substantial workshop archive (nearly 1,500 works on paper) has enabled a major rediscovery.
Today his work enjoys a legitimate and growing appeal among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and across Europe.
Unquestioned master of drawing, mixed media and collage, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and delight with its evocative power, deep humanity, caustic humor and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, filled with hybrid figures, waking dreams and subtly hidden social critiques.
Seller's Story
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Geometric Surrealist Composition, 1959 - Mixed media on paper signed
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) Belgian School
Geometric surrealist composition, 1959
Mixed media (watercolor, gouache, ink and pencil) on paper
Signed and dated “Detheux 59” at the bottom left
Dimensions: 33.3 × 23 cm
Sold unframed
Condition: Very good overall. Vivid colors and intact contrasts. Natural traces related to the technique (overlaps, smudges and textures deliberately created by the artist). On the back, handwritten note “1959”.
Description:
Rare and very beautiful surrealist painting from 1959, a formative period for Robert Detheux.
A bold geometric composition where a large central triangle houses an intense blue circle, above a stylized and fragmented face with fine features.
Bluish organic shapes, black hatch marks and dynamic lines cross in a fragmented and dreamlike space.
Detheux, aged 27, already freely explores the dialogue between geometric abstraction, allusive figuration and surreal atmosphere.
The work reveals an early sensitivity to the tension between order and chaos, presence and dissolution, which would characterize his entire career.
An important document of his early work, both constructivist and poetic, with great freshness and beautiful color intensity.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Biography of the artist:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and died in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply likable figure of 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tournai from 1960 to 1996, while developing a personal body of work of great coherence and remarkable freedom, far from dominant currents.
His artistic career unfolds in several major periods: from the 1950s-1960s he asserts a powerful surrealist and expressionist language marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions; in the 1970s he explores with sensuality and obsession the theme of the female body; the 1980s-1990s see the flourishing of a more hybrid, grotesque and theatrical universe blending erotism, black humor and poetry; finally, the 2000-2010 period is one of total maturity with spectral portraits and appearances of great intensity.
Little exposed during his lifetime by choice, Robert Detheux independently created an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him. The recent unveiling of his substantial workshop archive (nearly 1,500 works on paper) has enabled a major rediscovery.
Today his work enjoys a legitimate and growing appeal among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and across Europe.
Unquestioned master of drawing, mixed media and collage, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and delight with its evocative power, deep humanity, caustic humor and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, filled with hybrid figures, waking dreams and subtly hidden social critiques.
