Discovery of a painting inspired by Ancient Egypt on the reverse of Train du Soir (1957) by Paul Delvaux

As part of the project on the technical study of the works of Paul Delvaux, a Belgian Surrealist painter known for his dreamlike and enigmatic compositions, the painting Train du Soir (Evening Train) from 1957 belonging to the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) was studied in situ with imaging methods (high-resolution photography, infrared reflectography, X-ray radiography) and non-invasive analytical techniques (MA-XRF and Raman spectroscopy). This composition deals with one of the artist’s favorite subjects, a railway station. On its reverse, a composition is hidden under a thick layer of white paint, reveled by infrared reflectography. Unlike the front painting, the composition of the reverse deals with a subject much less known to the artist: ‘Ancient Egypt’. Indeed, out of all his painted work, only one oil painting represents it, La Légende Egyptienne (The Egyptian Legend) from 1953. In addition a Paul Delvaux’s drawing book dated 1953, now belonging to the RFMAB collection, contains the sketch of the discovered painting. Considering all these elements, an understanding of the process of creation, elaboration and destruction of the painting by Delvaux will be discussed in this paper. Furthermore, a virtual colorized model will be proposed, built on the basis of the infrared reflectography, the elemental information provided by MA-XRF analysis, and the microscope examination of the painting surface.