Work of art
In this work of art that is over thirteen metres wide, each element contributes to an atmosphere of memory and melancholy that is typical of Delvaux: the welcoming carriages, the open-air carriages, the figures in their old-fashioned clothing, the cold and frigid architecture, the naïve representation of the hilly landscape, the fading light of the peaceful and slowly waning summer day, and the soft, dreamy shades of blue, delicate nuances of green and refined blue-grey. In this piece he evokes the old Brussels tramways of his youth and his nostalgia for this era. “Nos vieux tramways bruxellois” resembles a large scale development of another of his pieces “Le tram de notre enfance” (The tram of our childhood), which he painted in oils on hardboard in 1955. This piece gave him the chance to express the melancholy linked to the loss of what was once great and which will never return.
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PAUL DELVAUX (1897 – 1992)
Along with Ensor and Magritte, this world famous artist dominated painting in Belgium. Very quickly, Paul Delvaux felt drawn to surrealism, to which he made an important contribution. He developed a very personal poetic mythology in which women play a central role. In his works of art we find the artist’s love of the Italian masters of the quattrocento. He was particularly interested in the railways and has also painted many different stations. Delvaux does not hesitate to compare means of transport with eternal femininity, and the dream which enlivens the station with the cult of the erotic. Trains and stations awaken the desire of the other, stir the imagination, and suggest a journey into the unknown. Although he reproduces miniature models of trains and trams faithfully and scrupulously, his works of art are not concerned with the technical aspects of transport. At Louvain-La-Neuve he was even given the title of honorary station master.
Pictures
