Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - La folie des grandeurs – 1978 (Les jeux de l’été)
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Robert Detheux’s 1978 mixed‑media on paper titled La folie des grandeurs (Les jeux de l’été) is an original piece, signed and dated by the artist, measuring 42 by 28 cm and produced in Belgium during the 1970s surrealist period.
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Payment required before the evening of October 26. No shipments possible from October 27 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
La folie des grandeurs – 1978
(Les jeux de l’été)
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: La folie des grandeurs
Series: Les jeux de l’été
Date: 1978
Signature: Signed and dated “Detheux 78” at the bottom right
Technique: Mixed media on paper. Light washes, white highlights, lines and areas redrawn or scraped.
Dimensions: 42 × 28 cm
Condition: Very good overall. The material is held and coherent; the wash effects and surface are entirely intentional by the artist and fully contribute to the work.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artwork from the artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Work from 1978 belonging to the series Les jeux de l’été. The title La folie des grandeurs guides the reading toward forms that are monumental, almost architectural, but remain fragile and unfinished.
The composition develops in light volumes, beige and white. One can discern large rounded masses, verticals, structures that evoke both bodies and constructions.
The shapes stack, overlay, seek height and breadth that never fully stabilize. White highlights come over certain areas, reinforcing the effect of construction and simultaneous deconstruction.
The material remains light, almost airy. Nothing is massive despite the title. The “folies of grandeur” here reads as an ambition of forms, a desire for monumentality that clashes with the delicacy of the wash and the surface of the paper. Detheux plays with this offset: the volumes want to impose themselves but remain translucent, open, incomplete.
We are in a poetic and ironic vein of Belgian surrealism by Detheux in the late 1970s. The series Les jeux de l’été allows this type of lightness, where the title and the material respond to each other with distance.
The eye moves between the masses, seeks an architecture or a figure, and remains in ambiguity.
Rare work from the Les jeux de l’été series, titled, dated and with a beautiful economy of means. An elegant and suggestive piece for fans of Detheux who are sensitive to monumental forms and light washes.
Biography of the artist:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and died in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Institut Saint-Luc in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while pursuing a cohesive personal body of work.
From the 1950s, he developed a very personal surrealist and graphic language. He received the Belgian Young Painting Prize in 1953, 1954 and 1971. The 1970s deepen the themes of the body and the female face, hybrid figures and textures.
The following decades extend this territory toward grotesque, eroticism and black humor, before spectral portraits and appearances in the 2000s.
Little was exhibited in his lifetime; Detheux worked freely. The unveiling of his studio archive (nearly 1,500 works) made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, today captivates 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 TranslatePayment required before the evening of October 26. No shipments possible from October 27 for nearly 3 weeks (absence).
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
La folie des grandeurs – 1978
(Les jeux de l’été)
Artist: Robert Detheux (Brussels, 1932 – Tournai, 2010)
Title of the work: La folie des grandeurs
Series: Les jeux de l’été
Date: 1978
Signature: Signed and dated “Detheux 78” at the bottom right
Technique: Mixed media on paper. Light washes, white highlights, lines and areas redrawn or scraped.
Dimensions: 42 × 28 cm
Condition: Very good overall. The material is held and coherent; the wash effects and surface are entirely intentional by the artist and fully contribute to the work.
Sold unframed.
Provenance:
Artwork from the artist’s studio collection (acquired directly).
Description:
Work from 1978 belonging to the series Les jeux de l’été. The title La folie des grandeurs guides the reading toward forms that are monumental, almost architectural, but remain fragile and unfinished.
The composition develops in light volumes, beige and white. One can discern large rounded masses, verticals, structures that evoke both bodies and constructions.
The shapes stack, overlay, seek height and breadth that never fully stabilize. White highlights come over certain areas, reinforcing the effect of construction and simultaneous deconstruction.
The material remains light, almost airy. Nothing is massive despite the title. The “folies of grandeur” here reads as an ambition of forms, a desire for monumentality that clashes with the delicacy of the wash and the surface of the paper. Detheux plays with this offset: the volumes want to impose themselves but remain translucent, open, incomplete.
We are in a poetic and ironic vein of Belgian surrealism by Detheux in the late 1970s. The series Les jeux de l’été allows this type of lightness, where the title and the material respond to each other with distance.
The eye moves between the masses, seeks an architecture or a figure, and remains in ambiguity.
Rare work from the Les jeux de l’été series, titled, dated and with a beautiful economy of means. An elegant and suggestive piece for fans of Detheux who are sensitive to monumental forms and light washes.
Biography of the artist:
Born in Brussels in 1932 and died in Tournai in 2010, Robert Detheux is a singular figure in 20th-century Belgian art. A graduate of the Institut Saint-Luc in Fine Arts in Brussels, he taught graphic expression at the Academy of Tournai until 1996, while pursuing a cohesive personal body of work.
From the 1950s, he developed a very personal surrealist and graphic language. He received the Belgian Young Painting Prize in 1953, 1954 and 1971. The 1970s deepen the themes of the body and the female face, hybrid figures and textures.
The following decades extend this territory toward grotesque, eroticism and black humor, before spectral portraits and appearances in the 2000s.
Little was exhibited in his lifetime; Detheux worked freely. The unveiling of his studio archive (nearly 1,500 works) made this coherence visible.
His drawing, demanding and immediately recognizable, today captivates 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
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Owner or reseller
Edition
Original
Artist
Robert Detheux (1932-2010)
Title of artwork
La folie des grandeurs – 1978
(Les jeux de l’été)
Technique
Mixed media
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
Belgium
Year
1978
Condition
Good condition
Height
42 cm
Width
28 cm
Style
Surrealism
Period
1970-1980
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