Brielle: The Dream - Hurts 1948 International Surrealist Exhibition

A truly exceptional early surrealist oil on canvas by Roger BRIELLE (1899-1960), dating from 1948.

Roger Brielle, painter, poet and art critic, was a friend of Max Jacob and Paul Elouard. It is Andr Breton who invites him to participate in the International Surrealist exhibition of 1947 at the Galerie Maeght (with Marcel Duchamp et al). What is particularly exciting is that our painting, created the following year, dates from this very period.

Roger Brielle subsequently exhibited with the surrealist group in Paris, Prague, Brussels and Rio. Kettles Yard in Cambridge has a sketch by the artst in the permanent collection.

The painting presented here has wonderful provenance: it belonged to the art historian, expert and collector Roger Passeron.

Passeron had a special interest in Roger Brielle and organised a retrospective exhibition of Brielle's work at the Chateau de Blois in 1961. Our painting featured in this exhibition, and is referenced in the Passeron archives as no. RP397.

Signed and dated at the lower right, our oil on canvas measures 60 x 51 cm. On the verso, the painting is signed again and indistinctly titled "Le Reve...Nuit", which is likely a play on words, translatable as "The Dream...Night" and also as "The Dream...hurts"

Dating from the immediate post war period, a time of poverty, the work of art has visible "battle scars", with craquelure notably in the left part of the painting. While condition is fair, the surface has been consolidated, tension bands were added and antifungal treatment was applied, so that the painting can now be proudly displayed.

It presented in a gorgeous more recent frame by Parisian master frame makers Delf. The overall framed size is 71.5 x 83 cm.