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Executed on 18th January 1968.

signed P. Delvaux. and dated 18-1-68 (lower right)

watercolour, pen and ink and wash on paper

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Fondation Delvaux.
PROVENANCE

Madame Krebs, Brussels
Galerie Lévy, Milan
EXHIBITED

Cologne, Galerie Gmurzynska, Ensor, Delvaux, Magritte, 1969
Osaka, Musée d'Art de Daimaru (and travelling in Japan), Paul Delvaux, 1989, no. 94, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Paris, Grand Palais, Paul Delvaux - Peintures Dessins 1922-1982, 1991, no. 25, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Paul Delvaux, 1997, no. 222, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
CATALOGUE NOTE

The mood in the present work is one of great poise and serenity, with the two figures intertwined in a gentle embrace. The white bodies of the female figures contrast powerfully with the darkness peeking through the windows framing the scene in the background. The quiet repose of the two girls, seen as an oasis of calm, dominates the foreground. Here, the pen is used sparingly, lightly stroking in the contours of the reclining bodies, and this economy of line is boldly contrasted by the intricacies of the detailed setting behind the figures. Inspired by the work of the French masters and the rich history of the nude in European painting Delvaux gives the theme a fresh twist by locating it in a modern-day setting, with a gas lamp in the background.

Writing about a similar work with the same title from 1946 Delvaux was unequivocal about its subject matter, identifying it simply as 'Two Lesbians'. He goes on to say, 'I find something very beautiful, from the point of view of formal values and line, in the contact between female flesh. It is, perhaps, erotic, but there is nothing wrong with that. In painting, all feelings become ethereal. Courbet, famously, made three paintings of lesbians in the following states Avant, Pendant, and Après. The three paintings were seized at the Franco-Belgian border. The first two were burnt on the spot and the third was sent back to France: I've seen the photograph, and it's a wonderful painting' (Paul Delvaux Peintures-Dessins 1922-1982 (exhibition catalogue), Grand Palais, Paris, 1991, p.66). Although Delvaux's story about the three Courbet paintings is almost certainly apocryphal, the image he saw in a photograph (which he knew as Après) is almost certainly Le Sommeil (fig.1).
FIG.1 Gustave Courbet, Paresse et luxure or Le Sommeil, 1866, oil on canvas, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris