Paul Delmée

Paul Delmée (born in 1944 in Brussels) studied architecture at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. A professional painter since 1986, he has chosen to express himself through an ancient technique: distemper painting, or tempera. This method, which calls on binders and pigments, consists of working in successive layers to give depth to the hues. Though traditionally applied to plaster or primed wood, Paul Delmée uses it on stretched canvas (preferably in large formats), which gives his work a unique character. His favourite themes are childhood memories, translated into architectural and mythological subjects such as the Tower of Babel or the labyrinth of Daedalus. His work reveals fears, reminiscences and all that gradually fades away. Sometimes a familiar object: a chair, a table or an apple slips in, but as if displaced, the sign of a certain alienation. His palette is warm, made of green and golden tones, while remaining monochrome. The silence that envelops Delmée's work, a deep calm, a true crucible of possibilities, is far from sterile and stirs many emotions in most viewers.