SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Pol Mara, the artist’s name of Belgian painter Léopold Leysen, born in Antwerp in 1920, developed a career marked by a shift from Surrealism to lyrical abstraction, followed by the integration of images drawn from contemporary media. He began his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1935, before continuing them at the National Institute of Fine Arts from 1941 to 1948. After his studies, he worked as a graphic designer for the pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica. In 1958, he took part, alongside several artists of his generation, in founding G-58, an Antwerp avant-garde group.
Early in his career, he explored Surrealism before moving towards lyrical abstraction during the 1950s. In the 1960s, he introduced photorealistic elements and combined images associated with television, cinema and illustrated magazines in his compositions, in connection with the rise of mass communication. From the beginning of 1963, he adopted new forms of expression that the source associates with American or British art; unlike a critical and oppositional Pop Art, they emphasise human emotions. An auction catalogue describes Luky Moment, dated 1970, as a mixed-media work on paper, signed and dated, and gives Galerie Semiha Huber in Zurich as its provenance.
In 1974, Mara created a mural for Montgomery metro station in Brussels. From 1972, he stayed in Gordes, in Provence, for health reasons. During his lifetime, retrospectives of his work were held in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. A museum dedicated to the artist opened in 1996 in the château of Gordes, with a permanent exhibition. In 1967, he received the Prix de l’Art Moderne at the IXth Tokyo Biennale. In 1984, he received the Flemish Community’s Artistic Career Award in Brussels.
This profile brings together identity references for Pol Mara and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
5 references are documented at Germann, Schuler. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on canvas
Dark day in an old pub
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2017-09-18
Published result : 950 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 400–600
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Oil on canvas
Dark day in an old pub
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2017-06-23
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 900–1300
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Mixed media on cardboard
Akte und Augen
Mischtechnik auf Karton
Catalogue period : 2017-06-23
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 1000–1500
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Mixed media on paper
Paar und Rosen
Mischtechnik auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2017-06-23
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 1000–1500
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Mixed media on paper
Luky Moment, 1970
Mischtechnik auf Papier.
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
