49 - Schwartz

Schwartz OLIVIER SCHWARTZ AN ADVENTURE OF SPIROU AND FANTASIO Dupuis Vertigo at the Moustic Hotel, original illustration created in 2026. Signed. Gouache on paper 30 × 40 cm (11.81 × 15.75 in.) Olivier Schwartz depicts his favorite character in a very uncomfortable position. As night falls, Spirou tries to escape invisible pursuers while holding Spip on his hand, just as a piece of the ledge breaks off beneath his feet. This bird’s-eye view drawing relies on the contrast between top and bottom—the hero’s solitude and the bustling street below—but its dynamism also draws on vanishing lines: those of the tubes supporting the hotel’s letters intersecting with those of the streetcars and cars below. The atmosphere is still that of the bustling Brussels of the 1940s, as evidenced by the vehicles, signs, and billboards, as well as references to Gary Cooper and the Tintin comic. One will also notice the author’s beautiful work on Spirou’s cast shadow and the sparkling red of his suit. “When I was a kid in Boulogne, I lived for a long time in a first-floor room that overlooked a very busy, commercial street intersection. I used to watch the people below. And I think that’s where my desire to draw scenes seen from above—scenes that are quite dizzying—came from.” O.S.