René Mels ( 1909-1977) - Belle composition abstraite de 1976

René Mels (1909–1977) – Belgium

Title: Abstract Composition (1976)

Watercolor and ink on paper

Dimensions: 53 x 36.5 cm

Signature: Signed at the bottom right 'R. Mels 76'.

Date: 1976

Condition: Very good overall condition, slight minor signs of wear.

Framing: Sold unframed

Provenance: artist's family

Description of the work

This abstract composition from 1976 testifies to René Mels's full artistic maturity, on the eve of his passing. The artist deploys a free and controlled style, where watercolor and ink combine in a subtle dialogue between transparency and structure.

The open geometric shapes, crossed by dynamic lines, balance in a chromatic harmony dominated by blues, yellows, and reds, enhanced with touches of green and ochre. The layering of washes and the energetic line work of ink give the whole a lively tension, almost musical.

This work, both spontaneous and rigorously constructed, illustrates Mels' final period, marked by a synthesis between lyrical abstraction and a search for inner space. Light becomes breath, line, respiration.

Artistic context

In the 1970s, René Mels continued his quest for a streamlined pictorial language, where color and gesture respond to each other within an increasingly controlled economy of means. This late period is characterized by great artistic freedom, during which the artist explores the expressive potentialities of paper and transparency.

Close in spirit to the works of his contemporaries in post-war Belgian abstraction, Mels nevertheless maintains a unique voice, imbued with lyricism and restraint. This 1976 work is a perfect illustration: a balance between movement and silence, structure and emotion.

Biography of René Mels (1909–1977)

Born in Herent-lez-Louvain, René Mels studied at the Leuven Academy, then at Brussels, before perfecting his skills at La Cambre. Member of the Young Belgian Painting and the Art Abstrait group, he actively participated in the modernization of the post-war art scene.

His work, initially expressionist, gradually evolved into a luminous and structured abstraction, where line, color, and light engage in a dialogue with rare sensitivity. Until the end of his life, he continued this pursuit of a poetic balance between emotion and construction.

René Mels passed away in 1977 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, leaving behind a coherent and profoundly spiritual body of work, of which this late composition serves as a vibrant and masterful testament.

An intensely powerful watercolor, where René Mels combines freedom of gesture, precision of line, and luminous transparency — a major testament to his final period, imbued with serenity and depth.