Auguste Chevalier

AUGUSTE CHEVALIER (1929-2021).
"Il raddrizzatore di Torre", 1981.
Oil on panel.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 51 x 123 cm; 71 x 142 cm (frame).

A clearly surrealist scene compiles in this panel different elements of the history of art. On the one hand, a harlequin from the commedia dell'arte converses with a totally naked woman (her high wig, however, indicates that she could belong to the French court of Louis XIV), while a boy with long hair, also in the nude, runs away terrified, letting go of the lady's hand. The strangeness of the composition lies not in the chatter of the characters, but in the animal that the man keeps tied to his leash: a furious rhinoceros, an animal for which Salvador Dalí, the surrealist master, had a weakness and which he represented on numerous occasions in his works. As a backdrop to such a curious composition rise Tuscan Renaissance architecture, including the iconic tower of Pisa and its architectural ensemble. The telluric background full of wild vegetation is completed with sunflowers emerging from the upper left part of the painting, as if they were a sun, and which are a clear tribute to the figure of the post-impressionist genius Van Gogh. Therefore, the work fits in its entirety in surrealism, an artistic and literary movement born in the early twentieth century. It begins with André Breton, author of the manifesto that gives its name to the movement, based on irrationality, the subconscious and the world of dreams. This avant-garde movement had important representatives at the pictorial level, such as Salvador Dalí, Rene Madritte, Marc Chagall or Joan Miró, among many others. Surrealism had an enormous expansion force, being the world of dreams the source of inspiration for all these artists.

The Belgian artist Auguste Chevalier dedicated his life to medicine (he was a professional doctor) as well as to painting. His paintings show a clear tendency towards surrealism and symbolism.