Lot 33 | Raoul de Keyser | Untitled (Greiner)

KEYSER, RAOUL DE
1930 Deinze, Belgien - 2012

Title: Untitled (Greiner).
Date: 1990.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 69 x 50cm.
Notation: Signed, inscribed and dated verso: Raoul de Keyser R 1990.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.


Provenance:
- Barbara Weiss Collection, Berlin
- Kasper König Collection, Berlin

Exhibitions:
- Museu Serralves, Porto, Raoul de Keyser, 22nd January - 27th March, 2005 (label verso)

Turning to abstraction
Raoul De Keyser, known above all for his abstract works, is considered one of the most influential Belgian painters. He began his artistic career as a self-taught artist in the 1960s. His works are characterised by a reduced colour palette and simple, often minimalist forms, which develop a subtle yet powerful visual language. Keyser's works move between abstraction and figuration and are often inspired by everyday objects and landscapes.

The medium of painting
In every creative phase, they are above all a reflection on the medium itself. The meaning and purpose of painting is never questioned; there are no photographic models or extensive research as a basis. The focus is rather on the strong presence of the painterly line and the layering of colours, whereby the motif repeatedly recedes into the background. This also applies to the work offered here from 1990. The painting is characterised by a bold yet uniform application of colour. Geometric shapes - an inverted L in strong red and a rectangle in dark pink - form the motivic basis of the artwork. In 2022, it was shown in the exhibition 'March 7, 1990', which summarises a series of works from 1990, at Galerie Barbara Weiss. In addition to coloured oil paintings, twelve works on paper in black, white and shades of grey, which can be seen as preliminary studies, will be exhibited. Many works from this period show geometric bodies and compositions. The surface shapes either penetrate the pictorial space without a clear perspective or are shifted into one another on the surface of the picture as if on top of each other. This spacial aspect of the picture also conveys a sense of time, as the overlapping through overpainting decisively changes or erases the previous image.

Experimenting with painting
Philipp van Cautern describes De Keyser's artistic work as follows: 'De Keyser was not a heroic, virtuoso painter, but an artist who sought an unforeseen intimate encounter with the canvas in a pragmatic yet playful way. The artist rejected any method, instead taking a random situation as an opportunity to start painting. Starting from a rough idea of painting, de Keyser explored the outcomes, which are still unknown, through experimentation and observation. Painting as an unpredictable experience that transforms thoughts and glances into colour' (translated).