Paul Delvaux

L'Appel de la Nuit [The Call of the Night]

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About this artwork

This is an early and important work in Delvaux's dream-landscape style. There is a deliberate conflict between the eroticism of the nudes and the uninviting setting into which they have been cast. Sexual fantasy collides with sexual anxiety in the strange and desolate landscape. The symbolism calls for interpretation but resists any. A skull and skeleton can be seen in the background, as well as groups of rocks which appear to be arranged in a prehistoric or symbolic manner. The rampant vegetation clinging to the languid nudes threatens to engulf them.

Updated before 2020

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  • artist:
    Paul Delvaux (1897 - 1994) Belgian
  • title:
    L'Appel de la Nuit [The Call of the Night]
  • date created:
    1938
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    Framed: 119.80 x 139.80 x 6.30 cm; 29.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund, 1995
  • accession number:
    GMA 3884
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Paul Delvaux

Paul Delvaux