Xavier Mellery, Stairway

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

Date: 1889
Technique: Black and red chalk on paper, 57 x 45 cm

In this drawing a strong sense of menace is created by the gloomy depths and striking shadows. Together with the calm rhythm generated by the surface pattern, this transforms concrete space into Mellery's inner landscape, an image of his soul:

For the mystery and foreboding of the shadows, the meditation turned in upon itself and the silence are the very forms your thought takes on.
(Lemonnier to Mellery, January 1899).

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Xavier Mellery, After Evening Prayers

Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels

Date: c. 1910
Technique: Charcoal and pastel on paper, 101 x 70 cm

This drawing shows a scene bathed in twilight, its source seemingly emanating simultaneously from an unseen skylight above and from a dully glowing lamp. These in turn illuminate the high veils of the nuns, which thus become supplementary sources of illumination within the space. The nuns evoke the idea of a mystical existence oriented towards the inner world, a denial of self and the contemplation of the supernatural: these nuns appear to have no solid corporeal form; even their faces cannot be seen. They can be seen as interchangeable apparitions which merge into the shadows and are only included as components of a particular, strongly felt mood.

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Xavier Mellery, Autumn (Chute des dernières feuilles d'automne)

Musée d'Art Moderne, Brussels

Date: c. 1890
Technique: Watercolor, ink, charcoal and black chalk on paper mounted on cardboard. Silver-gold background, 92 x 59 cm

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