Jean Delville

Jean Delville, self-portrait

Jean Delville (1867–1953) was a Belgian symbolist painter, author, and teacher. He was the first General Secretary of the Theosophical Society in Belgium, in 1911.

Early years

Self-portrait at age 20

Jean Delville was born in Louvain, Belgium on July 10, 1867. At the age of 17 he was the prize-winner at the School of Arts in Brussels.

Artistic career

Delville in his studio

Paintings, exhibitions, and prizes

• First exhibition, in 1885, featured Cycle Passionel
• Christ Glorified by the Children won Grand Prix de Rome in 1895
• "Treasures of Patin in 1895
• The School of Plato in 1899
• Love of Souls
• Prometheus cover art for Scriabin's score
• Murals in Palais de Justice, Brussels in 1914
• The Shudder of the Sphinx
• The Unknown Splendours
• The Haunted Horizon

Organizations of artists

In 1896, Delville founded the Salon d'art Idéalist.

Theosophical Society involvement

Delville became a member of the Theosophical Society on ................

Delville was a founder of the Theosophical Society in Belgium and served as its first General Secretary in the years 1911-1913, with Gaston Polak succeeding him.

Cover of score for Scriabin's Prometheus

Friendship with Sciabin

In 1908, Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin relocated to Brussels, and there met Delville.

When Scriabin composed his fifth symphony, Prometheus or "The Poem of Fire" in 1909-1910, Delville created the cover art for the score.

Delville, and perhaps Scriabin, had joined a secret cult within Theosophy called "Sons of the Flames of Wisdom." They worshiped Prometheus, because those fires, colors, lights were metasymbols of man's highest thoughts. Fire was Prometheus's stolen gift to man...

Scriabin was delighted with the androgynous face and the symbolism.

Old notes

According to Wikipedia:

In 1895 Delville published his Dialogue entre nous, a text in which he outlined his views on occultism and esoteric philosophy. Brendan Cole discusses this text in detail his book on Delville, pointing out that, though the Dialogue reflects the ideas of a number of occultists, it also reveals a new interest in Theosophy. In the late 1890s, Delville joined the Theosophical Society. He was probably introduced to Theosophy directly through his friendship with Edouard Schuré, the author of the widely-influential book Les Grandes Initiés. Schuré wrote the preface to Delville's work on Idealist Art, La Mission de l'Art (1900). Delville also came into close alliance with Annie Besant who inherited the leadership of the Theosophical movement. Besant gave a series of lectures in Brussels in 1899 titled La Sagesse Antique. Delville reviewed her talks in an article published in Le Thyrse that year. It is probably from this point onwards that Delville became actively involved in the Theosophical Movements as such. Delville founded La Lumière, a journal devoted to Theosophical ideas in 1899, and published articles from leading Theosophists of the day, including Besant. Delville became the first General Secretary of the Belgian branch of the Theosophical Society in 1911.
Delville's art flourished after 1900 and he produced some of his greatest works during this period up to the First World War. He worked with undiminished strength and imagination and his paintings revealed a visionary sense of the transcendental inspired by his involvement in the Theosophical movement, seen typically in works such as his monumental L'Homme-Dieu (1903, Brughes: Groeninge Museum) and Prométhée (1907, Free University Brussels).

Online resources

Articles

• Jean Delville: Painting, Spirituality, and the Esoteric by Lynda Harris
• Jean Delville at Wikipedia