Le Sommeil, 1969

Paul Delvaux   Master Artists

Paul Delvaux is a painter of Belgian origin born in Antheit in 1897 and died in Furnes in 1994. With his long career, he will alternate between post-impressionist, expressionist and surrealist styles. He studied drawing and painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he then told for teachers the Symbolist painter Jean Delville and the painter Constant Montald. Paul Delvaux paints women, men and ephebes. He paints nudes, cityscapes, people in costume, and sometimes all three at the same time. Static, frozen, the characters in his painting are introduced gently into the painting, crystallized within an environment that is itself stationary. In Delvaux's universe, time stands still, losing all control over the elements. The beautiful is obvious, imposed with genius by this talented artist. Around 1930, he was inspired by the Foire du Midi in Brussels and the Spitzner museum to represent scenes with medical influences, a perhaps involuntary nod to his best friend Emile Salkin with whom he used to train. drawing skeletons. In 1938, success smiled on him, since he participated in the surrealists exhibition in Paris. From 1920 to 1924, Delvaux was mainly inspired by stations and railways to paint. At the same time, he had a systematic habit of destroying his paintings each time he changed the theme. Later, Delvaux signed large mural compositions, including those of the Palais des Congrès in Brussels, the Institute of Zoology in Liège and the Casino-Kursal in Ostend. In 1958, he and his students produced The Literary Map of Belgium as part of the Universal Exhibition. Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Belgium since 1956, he officially became a member in 1958. In Saint-Idesbald, a private museum is dedicated to Paul Delvaux, and contains the most important collection of his works.