Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Fragilité extatique – 1976
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Belgian surrealist artist Robert Detheux created an original mixed-media drawing titled Fragilité extatique – 1976, on cardboard (37.2 × 32.8 cm), signed, dating from 1979, in good condition and unframed.
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Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – Ecstatic Fragility – 1976
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: Ecstatic Fragility
Date: 1976
Signed “Detheux” in the top right corner.
Titled on the back by the artist, in his own hand: “Ecstatic Fragility.”
Technique:
Mixed media on cardboard (charcoal, pastel, sanguine / red-ochre highlights, smudging).
The sturdy paper support shows an irregular grain, specks, folds and smeared areas that give the surface the look of aged skin, a membrane, or a mineral landscape. The touches of sanguine punctuate the composition like wounds or attendances of flesh.
Dimensions: 37.2 × 32.8 cm
State:
Very good overall condition. Remarkable preservation of the smudges, sanguine highlights and the spectral modeling. The variations in texture, wear of the line and the “skin” quality of the background are entirely intentional on the part of the artist. No loss or tear visible.
Sold unframed.
Signature: Signed “Detheux” at the top right.
Titled on the back “Ecstatic Fragility.”
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
A rare surrealist drawing from 1976, firmly placed in the period when Robert Detheux intensely explored the body, its textures and its appearances.
On a bluish-gray background treated as a living membrane, an organic form stands out: a drop, a leaf, an organ or a breast suspended on a fine thread.
This pendant form, both heavy and fragile, dominates the composition.
Around it, the cardboard puckers, hollows and lines. Touches of sanguine appear here and there — like wounds, nipples, or simple eruptions of flesh — and immediately transform the surface into a body. Nothing is trivial. Detheux does not describe an object: he makes a presence appear, both erotic and vulnerable.
The title given by the artist on the back, Ecstatic Fragility, says it all. The work rests in this rare tension between gentleness and brutality, between surrender and restraint.
The icy gray, milky smudges and accents of red create a particular density, between spectral eroticism, vanitas and ritual. The work belongs to those sheets from the 1970s where Detheux achieves an extreme tension between sensuality and abstraction, between body and matter.
Almost square format, the intensity of presence, the rarity of works from this period that fuse suspended form and emerging flesh: a characteristic work of Detheux’s maturity in the 1970s, sure to appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art sensitive to hybrid figures, grotesque eroticism and appearance.
Artist’s Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and deceased in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply endearing figure of 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels, where he studied Fine Arts, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a coherent and notably free personal œuvre.
His artistic journey unfolds across several major phases:
• From the 1950s-1960s, he asserts a powerful surrealist and expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, he sensually and obsessively explores the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures — the period to which this drawing fully belongs.
• The 1980s-1990s witness the flowering of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing erotism, dark humor and poetry.
• Finally, his 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is one of total maturity: spectral portraits, appearances, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery.
Little-exhibited in his lifetime, Robert Detheux created, with complete freedom, an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him.
Rediscovered in recent years thanks to the unveiling of his substantial studio archive (nearly 1,500 works on paper), his work now enjoys legitimate and growing enthusiasm among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing, Detheux leaves an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and attract with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux means entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, spectral bodies and waking dreams.
Seller's Story
About SR Fine Art
With nearly 28 years of experience in the art market, I am passionate about rediscovering artists’ studios and bringing their works to a wide audience on Catawiki.
I specialize in Belgian and European modern and contemporary art. My flagship collection is the studio archive of Robert Detheux (nearly 1,500 works on paper). I also offer surrealist drawings, beautiful abstract paintings from the 1950s, magnificent nude photographs by Michel Pinel, contemporary paintings, Cobra compositions, and works by Marcus de Vestele, Gundi Falk, René Mels, Eugène Eechaut and many others.
From intimate drawings to large formats, there is something for every taste and every budget. The vast majority of my auctions start at 1 € with no reserve price, giving everyone the chance to acquire unique pieces.
Every shipment is prepared with the utmost care using professional museum-quality packaging to ensure perfect condition upon arrival.
Join my growing community of satisfied clients and follow my new auctions to discover rare works from these exceptional studios.
Thank you for your trust and happy bidding!
SR Fine Art
Translated by Google TranslateRobert Detheux (1932-2010) – Ecstatic Fragility – 1976
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: Ecstatic Fragility
Date: 1976
Signed “Detheux” in the top right corner.
Titled on the back by the artist, in his own hand: “Ecstatic Fragility.”
Technique:
Mixed media on cardboard (charcoal, pastel, sanguine / red-ochre highlights, smudging).
The sturdy paper support shows an irregular grain, specks, folds and smeared areas that give the surface the look of aged skin, a membrane, or a mineral landscape. The touches of sanguine punctuate the composition like wounds or attendances of flesh.
Dimensions: 37.2 × 32.8 cm
State:
Very good overall condition. Remarkable preservation of the smudges, sanguine highlights and the spectral modeling. The variations in texture, wear of the line and the “skin” quality of the background are entirely intentional on the part of the artist. No loss or tear visible.
Sold unframed.
Signature: Signed “Detheux” at the top right.
Titled on the back “Ecstatic Fragility.”
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
A rare surrealist drawing from 1976, firmly placed in the period when Robert Detheux intensely explored the body, its textures and its appearances.
On a bluish-gray background treated as a living membrane, an organic form stands out: a drop, a leaf, an organ or a breast suspended on a fine thread.
This pendant form, both heavy and fragile, dominates the composition.
Around it, the cardboard puckers, hollows and lines. Touches of sanguine appear here and there — like wounds, nipples, or simple eruptions of flesh — and immediately transform the surface into a body. Nothing is trivial. Detheux does not describe an object: he makes a presence appear, both erotic and vulnerable.
The title given by the artist on the back, Ecstatic Fragility, says it all. The work rests in this rare tension between gentleness and brutality, between surrender and restraint.
The icy gray, milky smudges and accents of red create a particular density, between spectral eroticism, vanitas and ritual. The work belongs to those sheets from the 1970s where Detheux achieves an extreme tension between sensuality and abstraction, between body and matter.
Almost square format, the intensity of presence, the rarity of works from this period that fuse suspended form and emerging flesh: a characteristic work of Detheux’s maturity in the 1970s, sure to appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art sensitive to hybrid figures, grotesque eroticism and appearance.
Artist’s Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and deceased in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply endearing figure of 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels, where he studied Fine Arts, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a coherent and notably free personal œuvre.
His artistic journey unfolds across several major phases:
• From the 1950s-1960s, he asserts a powerful surrealist and expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, he sensually and obsessively explores the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures — the period to which this drawing fully belongs.
• The 1980s-1990s witness the flowering of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing erotism, dark humor and poetry.
• Finally, his 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is one of total maturity: spectral portraits, appearances, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery.
Little-exhibited in his lifetime, Robert Detheux created, with complete freedom, an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him.
Rediscovered in recent years thanks to the unveiling of his substantial studio archive (nearly 1,500 works on paper), his work now enjoys legitimate and growing enthusiasm among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing, Detheux leaves an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and attract with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux means entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, spectral bodies and waking dreams.
Seller's Story
About SR Fine Art
With nearly 28 years of experience in the art market, I am passionate about rediscovering artists’ studios and bringing their works to a wide audience on Catawiki.
I specialize in Belgian and European modern and contemporary art. My flagship collection is the studio archive of Robert Detheux (nearly 1,500 works on paper). I also offer surrealist drawings, beautiful abstract paintings from the 1950s, magnificent nude photographs by Michel Pinel, contemporary paintings, Cobra compositions, and works by Marcus de Vestele, Gundi Falk, René Mels, Eugène Eechaut and many others.
From intimate drawings to large formats, there is something for every taste and every budget. The vast majority of my auctions start at 1 € with no reserve price, giving everyone the chance to acquire unique pieces.
Every shipment is prepared with the utmost care using professional museum-quality packaging to ensure perfect condition upon arrival.
Join my growing community of satisfied clients and follow my new auctions to discover rare works from these exceptional studios.
Thank you for your trust and happy bidding!
SR Fine Art
Translated by Google TranslateDetails
Artist
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Sold by
Owner or reseller
Edition
Original
Title of artwork
Fragilité extatique – 1976
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1979
Condition
Good condition
Height
37.2 cm
Width
32.8 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1970-1980
Sold by
