Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Visage en suspens - portrait surréaliste

Artist: Robert Detheux (1932–2010)

Suspended face - sold framed

Dimensions: 42cm x 32cm with the frame

Condition: Good

Signature and date: Artist's stamp on the back.

Sold with a modern frame

Shipment: Will be sent flat, very well protected.

Description of the work

Created in 2000, 'Visage en suspens' illustrates the mastery of line and the introspective depth characteristic of Robert Detheux, a major figure of Belgian surrealism.

In this composition, a face emerges from a network of light lines and diffuse shadows, seeming to float between appearance and fading. The contours, barely sketched, blend into a misty space where gray light and white highlights create an atmosphere of silence and mystery.

The gaze, both present and fleeting, captures attention without ever fully revealing itself. Through this subtle play between clarity and darkness, Detheux manages to convey the very essence of passage — that of thought, memory, or soul.

Artistic context

Visage en suspens is part of Detheux's ongoing research on the representation of the invisible and the intimate. The artist explores the fragile boundary between reality and dream, between the human figure and its dissolution into matter.
This drawing, of great economy of means, testifies to an inner quest: that of a presence that eludes, of an identity in the making.

This poetic and meditative approach evokes, through its sensitivity, the work of Leonor Fini, while asserting a uniqueness specific to Detheux: that of an internalized surrealism, imbued with silence and restraint.

Comparison and influences
The universe of Detheux shares with Balthus a taste for mystery and restrained tension. Both express a subtle ambiguity between the softness of the stroke and the depth of the gaze.
However, where Balthus focuses on enigmatic figuration, Detheux favors suggestion and disappearance, making drawing a space for visual meditation where form becomes breath.

Biography
Born in Brussels in 1932, Robert Detheux was an essential figure of Surrealism and Dadaism in Belgium. His work, at the crossroads of figuration and abstraction, explores the deep areas of the human psyche.
Artist of silence and nuance, he developed a visual language of rare coherence, where each stroke seems alive with an inner life.
He passed away in 2010, leaving an artistic legacy of great sensitivity and profound poetic unity.

Provenance
Family collection of the artist.

Hanging face is a precious testament to Belgian surrealism at its mature stage. Through its subtlety, mystery, and balance between fading and presence, this work illustrates Robert Detheux's quest: that of a silent beauty, suspended between dream and reality.