BARBAIX (René).

"The Lovers of the Vineyard" (1950). Watercolor on paper, signed on the lower right corner, mounted under a white mat and natural wood frame. Size of the frame: 76,5 x 106,5 cm; subject: 56,5 x 86,5 cm. A self-taught painter, who nevertheless studied at the industrial school of Schaerbeek and the Academy of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, René Barbaix (Brussels, 1909-1966) began around 1935 with allegorical compositions in the spirit of Wiertz. In contact with the artistic avant-garde during the Second World War, he then exhibited at the Salon Apport as well as at the Jeune peinture belge of which he was a co-founder. He was a member of the National Council of Plastic Arts from 1953 onwards and received a grant for Spain (1954) and France (1955). After expressionism and realism, Barbaix ended up with a lyrical and tormented abstraction with organic forms (Dictionnaire des peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours, p. 50).