Paul Delvaux

A family film, a short summer film, made to record the joy of being together. But what a family! Léon Spilliaert, Paul Delvaux, Edgar Tytgat and his wife Maria, Luc and Paul Haessaerts. A garden, some seats and a camera that films the group of friends. They talk (given all the jollity, laughter and gestures seen it is a shame that it is a silent film). A period document only a few minutes long, a witness that puts names to faces, a reminder of a sunny afternoon. Emotion that loses itself in the moment.

The approach of the paintings by Paul Delvaux is offered in the form of a discussion between the artist and a psychiatrist who asked about the content of his work. The document gives plenty of room for his paintings that illustrate the themes: the poetic climate, the loneliness of the characters, the naked woman, skeletons ...

A portrait of the painters Edgard Tytgat, Albert Dasnoy, Jean Brusselmans, and Paul Delvaux. Under the eye of the camera, the artists present a large glass panel depicting the four seasons representing a stage in human life (adapted from Wikipedia)

Until his death in 1994, the twentiethcentury master Paul Delvaux was the last surviving member of the first generation of surrealist painters. In this portrait, he reminisces about his family, himself, his art and the various phases of his career. He explains that all his visual ideas are derived from childhood memories and the film shows the way in which these scenes have been incorporated into his work. The painter is seen as a young man (the earliest footage dates from 1945) and the film includes some unique shots of the extraordinary Musée Spitzner.