Robert Detheux (1932-2010) - Le Chat du silence - 2007

The Silence Cat
Dimensions: 51.5 cm x 38 cm
Condition: Good
Signed and dated: Signed and dated 2007
Frame: Sold unframed
Shipment: Will be sent flat, very well protected.

Robert Detheux – Series The Cats (2007)

This work on paper, titled The Silence's Cat, belongs to the series The Cats of Robert Detheux, a major figure of Belgian surrealism. Created in 2007, it illustrates the meditative depth and visual poetry characteristic of the artist, where the fusion between human and feline becomes a mirror of an inner world.

Description of the work

In Le Chat du silence, Detheux depicts a hybrid figure, both human and feline, whose face emerges from a misty background. The drawing, executed in charcoal and white chalk, plays on subtle contrasts between shadow and light.

The cat's eye, intense and dreamy, captures light like a point of consciousness within a space of calm and mystery. The body, barely sketched, seems to dissolve into the paper's material, giving the figure a fragile, almost spiritual presence. This economy of means, combined with the precision of the line, reflects Detheux's mastery of drawing and poetic sensitivity.

Artistic context

Through the series Les Chats, Robert Detheux explores the symbolism of the cat as a figure of instinct, mystery, and femininity. The artist questions the animal part of humans, approaching it in both a surrealist and introspective manner.
This work recalls the universe of Leonor Fini, where the cat becomes a psychic double, a companion of the soul, and a symbol of inner freedom. For Detheux, this feline presence takes on a meditative dimension: the cat is no longer just a motif but a metaphor for silence and contemplation.

Comparison and influences

The sobriety of the drawing and the depth of the gaze evoke the poetic rigor of Balthus. Like him, Detheux favors suggestion over description, the slow gaze over narration. Both share the same pursuit of balance between realism and mystery, between emotion and restraint.

Biography

Born in Brussels in 1932, Robert Detheux is a unique figure in Belgian surrealism. His work, imbued with lyricism and discretion, explores the realms of the unconscious and the beauty of the unspoken. An artist of silence and light, he masterfully created a universe of rare coherence, where each stroke becomes a breath and every gaze a revelation. He passed away in 2010, leaving behind a deeply poetic and timeless body of work.

Provenance
The artist's family collection

A unique and original work by Robert Detheux, Le Chat du silence stands as a visual meditation on the boundary between dream and reality. Through its delicacy, symbolic depth, and aesthetic kinship with Leonor Fini, this piece will appeal to collectors sensitive to the art of mystery and the poetry of the inner world.