Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Drapé surréaliste – Circa 1985
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Robert Detheux (1932-2010), Drapé surréaliste – Circa 1985, mixed media painting on cardboard, original edition, signed, 51.5 × 31.7 cm, Belgium.
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Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Surrealist Drapery – Circa 1985
Artist:
Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:
Surreal Drapery (sleeve / tied fabric)
Date: Circa 1985
Signature:
Studio label on the back.
Technique:
Oil painting (mixed media) on cardboard.
Deep, mineral-like black background, from which a long, slender textile volume emerges, treated with a dense, striated material with metallic reflections and very worked folds.
The cardboard, the artist’s usual support for these formats, absorbs and returns the light in a matte, velvety way.
Dimensions: 51.5 × 31.7 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The paint is intact, the fabric’s creases and the light highlights are perfectly legible. Minor surface traces, micro-scratches, and variations in the black background are part of the studio character of the work and do not alter its presence.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Studio label on the back.
Description:
Beautiful and rare surrealist painting by Robert Detheux, executed around 1985 on cardboard. On a deep, almost nocturnal black background, a single textile volume descends vertically, tied at its base. Neither portrait nor full figure: only this sleeve, this tightly drawn fabric, this absent presence.
The motif is of great economy and intensity. Detheux does not depict a garment; he makes visible an object charged with meaning, both banal and unsettling.
The folds are rendered with extraordinary tactile precision — ribs, crumples, the weight of the fabric, the knot that holds the material. The silvery-gray reflections on the black create a cold, almost metallic light, isolating the drapery in space as if it were an apparition.
The work sits firmly within the artist’s 1980–1990 period, that of hybrid objects, fragments of bodies, and surrealist still lifes where eroticism, black humor, and vanity mingle without ever naming themselves.
Here, the emptiness of the coat, the knot, the fall of the fabric are enough to evoke absence, the missing body, the remainder.
Slender vertical format, radical black background, virtuosity of the textile material: a characteristic piece of Detheux’s maturity, of great visual force and rarity within the studio collection.
It will appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art who are drawn to charged objects, draperies, and the tension between figuration and apparition that runs through the artist’s entire oeuvre.
Artist biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, exacting, and deeply engaging figure in 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels’ Fine Arts, 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 trajectory 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 sensually and obsessively explores the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s see the emergence of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor, and poetry — a period in which this painting fully belongs.
• 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.
Little shown during his lifetime, Robert Detheux freely created a personal, 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), his oeuvre now enjoys growing enthusiasm among informed collectors in Belgium, Spain, and Europe.
A master of drawing and matter, 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.
To collect Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, charged objects, 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 Drapery – Circa 1985
Artist:
Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work:
Surreal Drapery (sleeve / tied fabric)
Date: Circa 1985
Signature:
Studio label on the back.
Technique:
Oil painting (mixed media) on cardboard.
Deep, mineral-like black background, from which a long, slender textile volume emerges, treated with a dense, striated material with metallic reflections and very worked folds.
The cardboard, the artist’s usual support for these formats, absorbs and returns the light in a matte, velvety way.
Dimensions: 51.5 × 31.7 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The paint is intact, the fabric’s creases and the light highlights are perfectly legible. Minor surface traces, micro-scratches, and variations in the black background are part of the studio character of the work and do not alter its presence.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Studio label on the back.
Description:
Beautiful and rare surrealist painting by Robert Detheux, executed around 1985 on cardboard. On a deep, almost nocturnal black background, a single textile volume descends vertically, tied at its base. Neither portrait nor full figure: only this sleeve, this tightly drawn fabric, this absent presence.
The motif is of great economy and intensity. Detheux does not depict a garment; he makes visible an object charged with meaning, both banal and unsettling.
The folds are rendered with extraordinary tactile precision — ribs, crumples, the weight of the fabric, the knot that holds the material. The silvery-gray reflections on the black create a cold, almost metallic light, isolating the drapery in space as if it were an apparition.
The work sits firmly within the artist’s 1980–1990 period, that of hybrid objects, fragments of bodies, and surrealist still lifes where eroticism, black humor, and vanity mingle without ever naming themselves.
Here, the emptiness of the coat, the knot, the fall of the fabric are enough to evoke absence, the missing body, the remainder.
Slender vertical format, radical black background, virtuosity of the textile material: a characteristic piece of Detheux’s maturity, of great visual force and rarity within the studio collection.
It will appeal to lovers of Belgian surrealist art who are drawn to charged objects, draperies, and the tension between figuration and apparition that runs through the artist’s entire oeuvre.
Artist biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, exacting, and deeply engaging figure in 20th-century Belgian art.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels’ Fine Arts, 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 trajectory 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 sensually and obsessively explores the theme of the body and the female face, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s see the emergence of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor, and poetry — a period in which this painting fully belongs.
• 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.
Little shown during his lifetime, Robert Detheux freely created a personal, 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), his oeuvre now enjoys growing enthusiasm among informed collectors in Belgium, Spain, and Europe.
A master of drawing and matter, 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.
To collect Detheux is to enter a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, charged objects, 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 with frame
No
Sold by
Agent
Edition
Original
Title of artwork
Drapé surréaliste – Circa 1985
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1985
Condition
Good condition
Height
51.5 cm
Width
31.7 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1980-1990
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