Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Le Voile déchiré – vers 1980 - Belle peinture surréaliste
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€ 42
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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
 | €42 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €35 | |
| €32 | |
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Robert Detheux – Le Voile déchiré, a circa 1980 mixed media on paper, 47.5 × 35 cm, original edition, signed, in very good condition and unframed, originating from Belgium and sold by owner or dealer.
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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)
The Torn Veil – circa 1980
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Torn Veil
Date: Circa 1980
Signature: Label on the back.
Technique :
Painting / mixed media on paper. Black background densely lined with horizontal hatchings, worked like a curtain, a membrane or a skin. Central form in light material, thick, torn and wrinkled — white highlights, impasto and fragments that rise from the support.
Dimensions: 47.5 × 35 cm
Condition :
Very good overall condition. The light material, the folds, the cracks and the irregular edges are all intentional: they constitute the language of the work. No accidental loss or parasitic tears visible. The dark margins are original.
Sold unframed.
Provenance :
Artist's studio collection (acquired directly).
Description :
Rare and beautiful surrealist painting by Detheux, circa 1980. On a black striped background like a taut curtain, a light form tears open at the center of the sheet. At the top, a vertical mass, almost draped, rises like a wing, a shroud or an apparition. A wavy line runs through the composition: seam, crack, horizon. Below, the material wrinkles, breaks, and a face emerges in the folds — buried profile, barely indicated eye, suggested cheek and mouth by the cracks.
Detheux does not tell a scene. He summons a presence. The striped black holds the figure; the white frees it. Nothing is incidental. The tear is not an accident: it is the subject. Between spectral eroticism, vanity and ritual, the sheet holds in this rare tension between skin and apparition, between matter and dream.
The title, The Torn Veil, says it all. The work hinges on this clear slit opening onto black: a body that is born, a face that hides, a membrane that yields. The vertical format, the intensity of the contrast and the almost sculptural treatment of the white area place the sheet in the maturity of the 1980s, when Detheux leaves summer games for a more hybrid, more grave, more earthy universe.
A characteristic piece for lovers of Belgian Surrealist art sensitive to veiled figures, to matter and to apparition.
Artist Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, exacting and deeply endearing figure of 20th-century Belgian art. 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 coherent and remarkably free personal body of work.
His artistic journey 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 very elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s, to which this painting belongs, witness the flowering of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, blending erotism, black humor, veil and poetry.
• Finally, his 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 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 unveiling of his important studio fund (nearly 1500 works on paper), his work today enjoys a legitimate and growing following among collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing and matter, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and captivate with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, torn veils 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)
The Torn Veil – circa 1980
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: The Torn Veil
Date: Circa 1980
Signature: Label on the back.
Technique :
Painting / mixed media on paper. Black background densely lined with horizontal hatchings, worked like a curtain, a membrane or a skin. Central form in light material, thick, torn and wrinkled — white highlights, impasto and fragments that rise from the support.
Dimensions: 47.5 × 35 cm
Condition :
Very good overall condition. The light material, the folds, the cracks and the irregular edges are all intentional: they constitute the language of the work. No accidental loss or parasitic tears visible. The dark margins are original.
Sold unframed.
Provenance :
Artist's studio collection (acquired directly).
Description :
Rare and beautiful surrealist painting by Detheux, circa 1980. On a black striped background like a taut curtain, a light form tears open at the center of the sheet. At the top, a vertical mass, almost draped, rises like a wing, a shroud or an apparition. A wavy line runs through the composition: seam, crack, horizon. Below, the material wrinkles, breaks, and a face emerges in the folds — buried profile, barely indicated eye, suggested cheek and mouth by the cracks.
Detheux does not tell a scene. He summons a presence. The striped black holds the figure; the white frees it. Nothing is incidental. The tear is not an accident: it is the subject. Between spectral eroticism, vanity and ritual, the sheet holds in this rare tension between skin and apparition, between matter and dream.
The title, The Torn Veil, says it all. The work hinges on this clear slit opening onto black: a body that is born, a face that hides, a membrane that yields. The vertical format, the intensity of the contrast and the almost sculptural treatment of the white area place the sheet in the maturity of the 1980s, when Detheux leaves summer games for a more hybrid, more grave, more earthy universe.
A characteristic piece for lovers of Belgian Surrealist art sensitive to veiled figures, to matter and to apparition.
Artist Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932 and passed away in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular, exacting and deeply endearing figure of 20th-century Belgian art. 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 coherent and remarkably free personal body of work.
His artistic journey 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 very elaborate textures.
• The 1980s-1990s, to which this painting belongs, witness the flowering of a more hybrid and grotesque universe, blending erotism, black humor, veil and poetry.
• Finally, his 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 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 unveiling of his important studio fund (nearly 1500 works on paper), his work today enjoys a legitimate and growing following among collectors in Belgium, Spain and Europe.
A master of drawing and matter, Detheux leaves behind an authentic, vibrant and timeless oeuvre that continues to surprise and captivate with its evocative power, deep humanity and modernity.
Collecting Detheux is entering a unique dreamlike world, populated by hybrid figures, torn veils 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
Le Voile déchiré – vers 1980 - Belle peinture surréaliste
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1980
Condition
Good condition
Height
47.5 cm
Width
35 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1970-1980
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