Lot 320 N

Paul Delvaux began his career as a painter relatively late; around 1920 he decided to study painting at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Brussels and initially painted primarily landscape motifs, which he found near his birthplace Huy in the province of Liège, for example. Here, in a post-impressionist manner and with a painting technique bound to tradition, the young artist has documented a typical industrial landscape, presumably in the Meuse region, which features factory complexes in front of a steeply rising, rocky landscape. Its painterly, sometimes precisely detailed diction links the painting to the tradition of the late 19th century and documents the state of his art historical studies, ranging from Gustav Courbet's compositions to the nuanced brushstroke of Paul Cézanne.
Delvaux's look back to the 19th century from an already advancing 20th century - in the midst of so many experiments and freedoms - provided the artist with the foundation for the constructed and artificial visual world which would define his work from then on.