Léon Spilliaert

Robert-Bénédict Goldschmidt (1877-1935), commissioned from the artist
Private Collection, Belgium (Mr. Goldschmidt's technical assistant, a gift from the above)
Galerie Francis Carette, Brussels
Purchased from the above by the present owner

Probably, Brussels, Galerie Georges Giroux, April 1927

This condition report has been provided by Jane McAusland FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper, Nether Hall Barn, Old Newton, Nr Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14. Support This large drawing is on a sheet of good quality wove paper. There is an extended edge of Japan paper and it is attached to a board with a hinge at two areas on each side. The sheet is fresh and clean, there are artist pinholes on all corners and a crease at the foot towards the right. The condition is good. Medium The condition of the medium is also good. There is a small amount of retouching on the crease already mentioned above and a little glue on the surface of the black pigment upper right. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. JANE McAUSLAND
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

LEON SPILLIAERT

'I am a bad interpreter of other people's dreams, I have too many of my own.' (Letter from Léon Spilliaert to Edmond Deman, 26 November 1907)

Born in Ostend, Spilliaert was the son of a wealthy perfumer. For many years he was afflicted by acute anxiety; his insomnia drove him to wander nightlong through deserted streets and along empty beaches, which gave rise to innumerable works in a mixture of watercolour, pastel, coloured pencil and Chinese ink. They revealed the beauties of Ostend by night: deserted dykes and quays, arcades, street-lamps shining through fog and mist. He haunted the street where the painter James Ensor lived, to the point where the latter remarked that he could never take a stroll on his own because Spilliaert was always at his door. Between 1907 and 1913 Spilliaert developed an original form of Symbolism, tinged with Expressionism. He also created geometric landscapes that verged on abstraction and were unique for the period. Spilliaert used dark colours to create a sense of emptiness and stillness, divorcing the image depicted from its habitual context, but also concentrating on the essentials of the image. By so simplifying his paintings Spilliaert was able to invest the concrete objects that he represented with a certain mystery, transforming them into symbolic images of invisible realities.

His early work, already impregnated with Symbolism, was fed by his readings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Maurice Maeterlinck. In 1904 Spilliaert stayed in Paris, where he was on the fringe of Picasso's circle and discovered the work of Munch and Toulouse-Lautrec, who had a profound influence on him. He continued to spend most winters in Paris to keep in touch with the city's cultural life. Spilliaert was much influenced by the other symbolist artists of his own country, in particular Xavier Mellery, from whom he acquired his strong expression of silence, but probably the most important influence on him was the French Symbolist Odilon Redon.

LE DIRIGEABLE DANS LE HANGAR

Executed in 1910, the present work was commissioned from Spilliaert by Robert B. Goldschmidt and depicts his airship Belgique II in its hangar in Oudergem. Le direagible dans le hangar captures both the thrill and excitement as well as the surreal strangeness of Robert Goldschmidt's new, astonishing mode of transport.

In 1908 Goldschmidt, a brilliant scientist, passionate aviation pioneer and close friend of Spilliaert, began to work on plans for the construction of Belgium's first zeppelin, the Belgique. Its maiden voyage was in June 1909 above Oudergem and Bosvoorde. After twenty-three successful flights this zeppelin was deflated and Goldschmidt built a successor, the Belgique II, 65 meters long and 11 meters wide, whose maiden voyage was on 25 April 1910.

Goldschmidt initially asked Spilliaert to depict the test flights of his zeppelin in an artistic manner. Spilliart subsequently executed a series of  works depicting the Belgique II both in flight and moored in its hangar. Some paintings show the yellow zeppelin high in the sky, reduced to a little dot, others depict the airship in its full glory over the entire width of the sheet. The present work and a comparable work in the collection of the Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ostend show the airship in its hangar. The almost surreal dimensions of this hangar seem to have had a particular appeal for Spilliaert. In both works, his cropping of the picture plane heightens the almost abstract nature of the composition and embues it with mystery: 'the dark, dimly illuminated shed does not divulge the secret of its unusual content easily. Like eyes have to adjust to the dark, it is necessary to get used to this representation to be able to decipher it. Bit by bit, you manage to discern the lines of the baloon and the 'biplane' below, actually the stabiliser of the zeppelin; bit by bit, you realise that the white spot is an open gate and see the tiny people on the shop floor.' (Anne Adriaens-Pannier, quoted in Norbert Hostyn, Léon Spilliaert, Life and Work, Oostkamp, 2006, p. 60). 

Depicting the moment where the hangar gates open in readiness for the next flight, daylight floods into the dark space and illuminates the zeppelin's yellow envelope to dramatic effect. The strong diagonals created by the side windows of the hangar and the lit up rims of the airship's birth resemble a futuristic space dock.