Vic Gentils — Untitled Triptych, ca. 1964

Artist: Vic Gentils (Belgium, 1919–1997)

Year: ca. 1964

Work: Triptych (assemblage/relief)

Materials: Mixed media assemblage

Dimensions: 120cm x 140cm

Provenance: Private Belgian collection

Description

This sculptural triptych by Vic Gentils dates from the mid-1960s, a decisive period in which the artist developed a radical approach to assemblage and relief. Composed as three interconnected panels, the work operates at the threshold between painting and object, transforming the pictorial surface into a tactile and spatial field.

Gentils constructs the work through the accumulation and articulation of materials, creating a dense surface in which gesture, matter and structure are inseparable. Rather than illusion or representation, the emphasis lies on physical presence: the surface becomes an active site where form is built, eroded and reassembled.

The triptych format reinforces this sculptural logic, allowing the work to unfold rhythmically across space while maintaining a strong internal coherence.

Context

During the early 1960s, Vic Gentils emerged as a key figure in post-war Belgian art, developing an idiosyncratic language that resonated with broader European explorations of assemblage, materiality and the object. While not formally aligned with Nouveau Réalisme, his work shares a fundamental concern with the autonomy of materials and the erosion of traditional painterly hierarchies.

Gentils maintained long-standing intellectual and artistic exchanges with figures such as André Bogaert and Emiel Veranneman, forming part of a generation that sought to redefine abstraction through material presence rather than pure geometry. Works from this period are increasingly recognised for their historical importance, yet many remain underrepresented due to the limited circulation of early assemblages.

This triptych has remained under the radar and is not included in the catalogue raisonné, enhancing its rarity and reinforcing its status as a significant, yet little-seen work from a formative phase in Gentils’ oeuvre.