Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - L’homme au chapeau – 1961
01
day
05
hours
17
minutes
20
seconds
Current bid
€ 20
No reserve price
Expert
Selected by Giulia Couzzi
Master’s in culture and arts innovation, with a decade in 20th-21st century Italian art.
Estimate € 200 - € 250
 | €20 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €15 | |
| €5 | |
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 142734 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Robert Detheux, L’homme au chapeau – 1961, mixed media on toned carton, Original edition, signed and dated, 26.5 × 24 cm, Belgium, Surrealism, 1960-1970.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – The Man with the Hat – 1961
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Man with the Hat
Date: 1961
Signature: Signed and dated “Detheux 61” in the upper right, on the orange background.
Technique: Graphite and paint (black and orange) on tinted cardboard. The face is drawn, barely modeled. The hat is painted in black, including the band. The right-hand background is brushed with orange. The beige cardboard remains visible in the face. The whole is mounted on a white sheet.
Dimensions: 26.5 × 24 cm
Condition: Good overall, with a crease visible in the upper right corner, and a small chip of the cardboard under the hat, on the left. The line is crisp, the paint intact, the signature legible. Studio cardboard, grain, hatched clothing remains untouched. The crease does not reach the face.
Sold mounted on a white sheet, unframed.
Provenance: Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Small sheet from 1961. Detheux is twenty-nine years old. The portrait is reduced to its signs: a hat, a mustache, an ear, a hatched collar.
The face is not modeled. The beige cardboard serves in its stead. The nose, mouth, and mustache are indicated with a single stroke. The ear, on the left, is drawn. Under the hat, two dots, like eyes that do not look.
The hat, painted black, weighs on the head. The headband is a broad stroke, cut cleanly.
On the right, an orange background cuts into the cardboard. The clothing at the bottom is hatched, dense, without detail. The figure is in profile, almost facing us, and it does not settle. We are still near the sheets from the late 1950s: object, barely defined face, flat areas that do not strive to describe.
Signed, dated, small format and a year not well represented: a characteristic youth work, for lovers of Belgian surrealism drawn to reduced portraits and studio flat tones.
Artist’s Biography:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Tournai Academy until 1996, while pursuing a coherent personal body of work.
As early as the 1950s, he established himself with a surreal, highly personal graphic language.
He received the Belgian Young Painting Prize in 1953, 1954, and 1971.
This sheet belongs to that first period, rare on the market: an object, a barely indicated face, flat areas. The following decades deepen the same territory: 1970s – female bodies and faces, hybrid figures, textures; 1980s-1990s – grotesque, eroticism, black humor; 2000s-2010s – spectral portraits, apparitions, creatures.
Little-known in his lifetime, Detheux worked freely. The uncovering of his studio collection (nearly 1,500 works) has made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, now attracts collectors of Belgian surrealism in Belgium, Spain, and Europe.
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) – The Man with the Hat – 1961
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Man with the Hat
Date: 1961
Signature: Signed and dated “Detheux 61” in the upper right, on the orange background.
Technique: Graphite and paint (black and orange) on tinted cardboard. The face is drawn, barely modeled. The hat is painted in black, including the band. The right-hand background is brushed with orange. The beige cardboard remains visible in the face. The whole is mounted on a white sheet.
Dimensions: 26.5 × 24 cm
Condition: Good overall, with a crease visible in the upper right corner, and a small chip of the cardboard under the hat, on the left. The line is crisp, the paint intact, the signature legible. Studio cardboard, grain, hatched clothing remains untouched. The crease does not reach the face.
Sold mounted on a white sheet, unframed.
Provenance: Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Small sheet from 1961. Detheux is twenty-nine years old. The portrait is reduced to its signs: a hat, a mustache, an ear, a hatched collar.
The face is not modeled. The beige cardboard serves in its stead. The nose, mouth, and mustache are indicated with a single stroke. The ear, on the left, is drawn. Under the hat, two dots, like eyes that do not look.
The hat, painted black, weighs on the head. The headband is a broad stroke, cut cleanly.
On the right, an orange background cuts into the cardboard. The clothing at the bottom is hatched, dense, without detail. The figure is in profile, almost facing us, and it does not settle. We are still near the sheets from the late 1950s: object, barely defined face, flat areas that do not strive to describe.
Signed, dated, small format and a year not well represented: a characteristic youth work, for lovers of Belgian surrealism drawn to reduced portraits and studio flat tones.
Artist’s Biography:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Tournai Academy until 1996, while pursuing a coherent personal body of work.
As early as the 1950s, he established himself with a surreal, highly personal graphic language.
He received the Belgian Young Painting Prize in 1953, 1954, and 1971.
This sheet belongs to that first period, rare on the market: an object, a barely indicated face, flat areas. The following decades deepen the same territory: 1970s – female bodies and faces, hybrid figures, textures; 1980s-1990s – grotesque, eroticism, black humor; 2000s-2010s – spectral portraits, apparitions, creatures.
Little-known in his lifetime, Detheux worked freely. The uncovering of his studio collection (nearly 1,500 works) has made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, now attracts collectors of Belgian surrealism in Belgium, Spain, and Europe.
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
L’homme au chapeau – 1961
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1961
Condition
Good condition
Height
26.5 cm
Width
24 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1960-1970
Sold by
