Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Portrait surréaliste – Figures spectrales – 2007
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€ 50
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Selected by Giulia Couzzi
Master’s in culture and arts innovation, with a decade in 20th-21st century Italian art.
Estimate € 200 - € 250
 | €50 | |
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 | €45 | |
| €43 | |
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Robert Detheux, a Belgian surrealist artist, created Portrait surréaliste – Figures spectrales in 2007 as a mixed‑media drawing on paper (55 × 45 cm), an original edition signed by the artist and sold unframed in very good condition.
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Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – Surrealist Portrait – Spectral Figures – 2007
Artist:
Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:
Surrealist Portrait – Spectral Figures
Date: 2007
Signature:
Signed and dated “Detheux 2007” at lower left.
Technique:
Mixed media on paper (brown washes, smudging, pastel/chalk, white highlights).
The support, with dense texture, spotting and irregular grain, is treated like an ancient skin. Faces emerge from the wash through broad white smudges.
Dimensions: 55 × 45 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. Remarkable preservation of the smudges, white highlights and the spectral modeling. The spots, runs and variations in the paper’s texture are an integral part of the composition.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Large and rare surrealist drawing from 2007, fully within the final period of Robert Detheux, that of apparitions and spectral figures.
On an ochre-brown background worked like a map or a mineral skin, two faces overlap and merge.
The gaze, fixed and hypnotic, dominates the whole composition. The orbits are deep, the features barely indicated, the modeling achieved by broad white smudges that turn the faces into appearances rather than portraits. Nothing is trivial. Detheux does not depict faces: he conjures a double, troubled, almost fusion-like presence.
The brown of the wash, the white highlights and the grain of the old paper create a rare density, between spectral eroticism, vanity and ritual. The work belongs to those large sheets from the 2000-2010 period where Detheux reaches an extreme tension between figuration and appearance.
Large format, intensity of the gaze, rarity of surrealist portraits from this final period: a work characteristic of the artist’s maturity, which will appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art sensitive to spectral figures, to superimposition and to apparition.
Artist biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away 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 Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal body of work of great coherence and remarkable freedom.
His artistic career unfolds in several major periods:
• From the 1950s-1960s, he asserted a powerful surrealist and expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, he explored with sensuality and obsession the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s saw the emergence of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor and poetry.
• Finally, the 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is one of total maturity: spectral portraits, apparitions, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery — the period to which this drawing fully belongs.
Little exposed during his lifetime, Robert Detheux freely created an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him.
Rediscovered in recent years thanks to the uncovering of his substantial studio fund (nearly 1,500 works), his oeuvre now enjoys growing legitimate enthusiasm among enlightened collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless body of work that continues to surprise and seduce with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, spectral faces 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) – Surrealist Portrait – Spectral Figures – 2007
Artist:
Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:
Surrealist Portrait – Spectral Figures
Date: 2007
Signature:
Signed and dated “Detheux 2007” at lower left.
Technique:
Mixed media on paper (brown washes, smudging, pastel/chalk, white highlights).
The support, with dense texture, spotting and irregular grain, is treated like an ancient skin. Faces emerge from the wash through broad white smudges.
Dimensions: 55 × 45 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. Remarkable preservation of the smudges, white highlights and the spectral modeling. The spots, runs and variations in the paper’s texture are an integral part of the composition.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Large and rare surrealist drawing from 2007, fully within the final period of Robert Detheux, that of apparitions and spectral figures.
On an ochre-brown background worked like a map or a mineral skin, two faces overlap and merge.
The gaze, fixed and hypnotic, dominates the whole composition. The orbits are deep, the features barely indicated, the modeling achieved by broad white smudges that turn the faces into appearances rather than portraits. Nothing is trivial. Detheux does not depict faces: he conjures a double, troubled, almost fusion-like presence.
The brown of the wash, the white highlights and the grain of the old paper create a rare density, between spectral eroticism, vanity and ritual. The work belongs to those large sheets from the 2000-2010 period where Detheux reaches an extreme tension between figuration and appearance.
Large format, intensity of the gaze, rarity of surrealist portraits from this final period: a work characteristic of the artist’s maturity, which will appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art sensitive to spectral figures, to superimposition and to apparition.
Artist biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away 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 Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal body of work of great coherence and remarkable freedom.
His artistic career unfolds in several major periods:
• From the 1950s-1960s, he asserted a powerful surrealist and expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, he explored with sensuality and obsession the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s saw the emergence of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor and poetry.
• Finally, the 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is one of total maturity: spectral portraits, apparitions, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery — the period to which this drawing fully belongs.
Little exposed during his lifetime, Robert Detheux freely created an intimate, subversive and poetic universe that belongs only to him.
Rediscovered in recent years thanks to the uncovering of his substantial studio fund (nearly 1,500 works), his oeuvre now enjoys growing legitimate enthusiasm among enlightened collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless body of work that continues to surprise and seduce with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, spectral faces 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
Portrait surréaliste – Figures spectrales – 2007
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
2007
Condition
Good condition
Height
55 cm
Width
45 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
2000-2010
Sold by
