The Sleeping Venus, 1944 by Paul Delvaux (1897-1994, Belgium) | | WahooArt.com

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"The Sleeping Venus"

Paul Delvaux - Oil On Canvas - 173 x 199 cm - 1944 - (Tate Gallery (London, United Kingdom))
Delvaux’s work combined classical perfection with an erotic and troubling atmosphere. The sensuousness of Sleeping Venus is set against its oppressive night-time setting. Delvaux later explained that it was painted in Brussels during the German wartime occupation and while the city was being bombed. ‘The psychology of that moment was very exceptional, full of drama and anguish’, he recalled. ‘I wanted to express this anguish in the picture, contrasted with the calm of the Venus’. Though never an official Surrealist, Delvaux was associated with the Belgian group around Magritte.