Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - La Folle – 1978 - Belle peinture surréaliste
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€ 38
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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
 | €38 | |
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Robert Detheux — La Folle (1978), original edition, mixed media on paper with crayon, 49.5 × 39.5 cm, signed, Belgium.
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Description from the seller
FR :
Payment required before the evening of October 25. No shipments possible from October 26 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
EN :
Payment required before the evening of October 25. No shipments possible from October 26 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – La Folle – 1978
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: La Folle
Date: 1978
Signature:
Signed and dated “Detheux 78” at bottom left.
Technique:
Painting / mixed media on paper (gray wash, white highlights, graphite, touches of sanguine). Everything is painted or drawn. The background is swept with broad strokes; the face emerges through reserves, hatching and rubbing.
Dimensions: 49.5 × 39.5 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The grays, whites and sparse reddish accents are well preserved. The brushed texture and surface variations are intentional by the artist.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
A rare and beautiful surreal portrait from 1978. A head occupies the left side of the sheet, barely emerging from the gray. The eye is a dark circle, almost a hole. The cheek, forehead and mouth reveal themselves through the rubbings. Nothing is finished. Detheux does not describe a face: he makes it appear.
On the right, a second eye floats, small, circled, reddish-brown pupil — detached gaze, moon or witness.
Lower down, a hashed mass rises like a shoulder, a breast or a hill. A vertical white line anchors the center: neck, finger, candle. A few touches of sanguine are enough to warm the gray without ever telling it.
La Folle is not an anecdote. It is a presence. The title signals the gap: between the softness of the milky background and the stillness of the gaze, between portrait and apparition.
Detheux achieves here, in 1978, that rare tension between spectral eroticism and mental figure. The format, the mastery of gray and the rarity of these two-eyed portraits make it a characteristic sheet of his maturity.
Biography of the artist
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply engaging figure of Belgian art in the 20th century.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal oeuvre of great coherence and remarkable freedom.
His artistic journey unfolds in several major periods:
• In the 1950s-1960s, he asserts a powerful Surrealist and Expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, to which this portrait fully belongs, he explores with sensuality and obsession the theme of the face and the female body, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s see the flourishing of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor and poetry.
• Finally, his 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is that of total maturity: spectral portraits, apparitions, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery.
Little Exhibited 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 revelation of his substantial studio archive (about 1500 works on paper), his work today enjoys a legitimate and growing enthusiasm among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
Maestro of drawing and matter, Detheux leaves an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and seduce with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux means entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, the Folles and apparitions.
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 TranslateFR :
Payment required before the evening of October 25. No shipments possible from October 26 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
EN :
Payment required before the evening of October 25. No shipments possible from October 26 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
Robert Detheux (1932-2010) – La Folle – 1978
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: La Folle
Date: 1978
Signature:
Signed and dated “Detheux 78” at bottom left.
Technique:
Painting / mixed media on paper (gray wash, white highlights, graphite, touches of sanguine). Everything is painted or drawn. The background is swept with broad strokes; the face emerges through reserves, hatching and rubbing.
Dimensions: 49.5 × 39.5 cm
Condition:
Very good overall condition. The grays, whites and sparse reddish accents are well preserved. The brushed texture and surface variations are intentional by the artist.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
A rare and beautiful surreal portrait from 1978. A head occupies the left side of the sheet, barely emerging from the gray. The eye is a dark circle, almost a hole. The cheek, forehead and mouth reveal themselves through the rubbings. Nothing is finished. Detheux does not describe a face: he makes it appear.
On the right, a second eye floats, small, circled, reddish-brown pupil — detached gaze, moon or witness.
Lower down, a hashed mass rises like a shoulder, a breast or a hill. A vertical white line anchors the center: neck, finger, candle. A few touches of sanguine are enough to warm the gray without ever telling it.
La Folle is not an anecdote. It is a presence. The title signals the gap: between the softness of the milky background and the stillness of the gaze, between portrait and apparition.
Detheux achieves here, in 1978, that rare tension between spectral eroticism and mental figure. The format, the mastery of gray and the rarity of these two-eyed portraits make it a characteristic sheet of his maturity.
Biography of the artist
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, demanding and deeply engaging figure of Belgian art in the 20th century.
A graduate of the Saint-Luc Institute of Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while developing a personal oeuvre of great coherence and remarkable freedom.
His artistic journey unfolds in several major periods:
• In the 1950s-1960s, he asserts a powerful Surrealist and Expressionist language, marked by intense portraits and dreamlike compositions.
• In the 1970s, to which this portrait fully belongs, he explores with sensuality and obsession the theme of the face and the female body, developing hybrid figures and highly elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s see the flourishing of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, mixing eroticism, black humor and poetry.
• Finally, his 2000-2010 period, particularly sought after today, is that of total maturity: spectral portraits, apparitions, hybrid figures and feline creatures executed with exceptional mastery.
Little Exhibited 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 revelation of his substantial studio archive (about 1500 works on paper), his work today enjoys a legitimate and growing enthusiasm among discerning collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
Maestro of drawing and matter, Detheux leaves an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and seduce with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux means entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, the Folles and apparitions.
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
Sold with frame
No
Sold by
Owner or reseller
Edition
Original
Artist
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Title of artwork
La Folle – 1978 - Belle peinture surréaliste
Technique
Chalk, Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1978
Condition
Good condition
Height
49.5 cm
Width
39.5 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1970-1980
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