Dobiaschofsky · Lot 1532
Untitled
Watercolour
Original catalogue wording
Sans titre.
Aquarell
Date to be documented
Published result : 150 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 200
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Michel Delporte
Born : 1927Died : 2001
A painter associated with the Groupe de Roubaix and a poet, Michel Delporte (1927–2001) pursued a practice in which painting and poetry coexist. After considering architecture, he studied philosophy, became interested in questions of aesthetics and took up painting. At the Kröller-Müller Museum, he discovered the works of Paul Klee and Vincent Van Gogh with his friend Paul Hémery; according to the source, they became fundamental references for him. His career also involved political commitment: he is described as having been, at one point, a “companion of the P.C.F.”
Initially interested in popular subjects, Delporte turned to watercolour and cut-paper collage, which came to occupy a prominent place in his work. Among other methods, he used fragments of photogravure cut from magazines and then torn; his works are described as becoming increasingly dreamlike over time. The documented works illustrate several stages in this practice: Les Cyclistes (1953) and Les Buveurs (1955) are oils on canvas, while Inquiétude (1957) is a collage of photogravures on paper. Picador, dated circa 1965, is described as an oil monotype on paper heightened with chalk; a work titled Komposition bears the date 1975. An auction catalogue also describes an untitled work as a watercolour and collage, signed and dated (19)77, with a dedication on the support and measuring 26.5 × 32.5 cm.
Delporte’s poetry also found a musical extension: his friend, the composer Pierre Jansen, set his poems to music in the cantata Quatre temps, for mezzo-soprano, narrator and piano. His friends from the Groupe de Roubaix, Arthur Van Eecke and Paul Hémery, made his portrait. An exhibition devoted to the artist, Les Michel Delporte de la Piscine, was presented in 2010. That same year, Invenit published a 208-page collective volume of the same title.
This profile brings together identity references for Michel Delporte and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Works recorded at auction
Sources and references
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