Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Le Chat des ombres - 2007

The Shadow Cat
Dimensions: 50 cm x 36 cm
Condition: Good
Signature and date: Signed and dated 2007.
Framing: Sold unframed
Shipment: Will be sent flat, very well protected.

Robert Detheux – Series The Cats (2007)

Created in 2007, this paper work titled The Shadow Cats belongs to the series The Cats of Robert Detheux, a singular figure of Belgian surrealism. It reflects the meditative depth and artistic refinement characteristic of the artist, where the figure of the cat becomes the vehicle for a silent, inner poetry.

Description of the work

In The Shadow Cat, Detheux depicts a large cat with an enigmatic gaze, whose contours blend into a play of lights and textures. The drawing, created with charcoal and white chalk, reveals a subtle balance between transparency and density.

The eye, with an almost hypnotic intensity, captures the light and seems to fix the viewer with a presence that is both gentle and unsettling. The rest of the face, rendered with a sparing use of means, dissolves into shades of gray and brown, evoking the material of a dream.
The cat appears here as a figure of the in-between: neither entirely real nor entirely imaginary. It embodies the shadow and mystery that inhabit each being, a recurring theme in Detheux's work.

Artistic context

Through the series Les Chats, Robert Detheux explores the symbolism of the cat as a metaphor for instinct, femininity, and secrecy. The artist unfolds a universe where humans and animals merge in the same poetic breath.
This work is part of the continuity of Belgian surrealism, where suggestion, metamorphosis, and silence play an essential role. It also evokes the sensitivity of Leonor Fini, whose feline and androgynous portraits share this same sensual and spiritual ambiguity.

Comparison and influences

The stripping down of the drawing and the tension between light and darkness evoke Balthus's poetic rigor. Like him, Detheux favors the slow gaze and the power of the unsaid. Both cultivate an aesthetic of restraint, where each stroke becomes a whisper, and each shadow an emotion.

Biography

Born in Brussels in 1932, Robert Detheux is a prominent figure in Belgian surrealism. His work, imbued with lyricism and discretion, explores the realms of the unconscious and the beauty of silence. An artist of chiaroscuro and mystery, he managed to create a universe of rare coherence, where the line becomes breath and light, revelation. He passed away in 2010, leaving behind a poetic and timeless body of work.

Provenance
The artist's family collection

Unique and original work by Robert Detheux, The Shadow Cat asserts itself as a meditation on presence, mystery, and inner light. Through its delicacy, symbolic depth, and aesthetic kinship with Leonor Fini, this piece will appeal to collectors sensitive to the poetry of silence and the beauty of the unsaid.