Dotremont Christian Horoscope

Christian Dotremont (1922–1979)

Born on 13 December 1922 in Tervuren, Belgium, Christian Dotremont was a poet, painter, and incisive organizer whose work fused writing and image. He co-founded the CoBrA movement in 1948 and coined its name from the capitals Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam. He is best known for his logograms—painted poems where gesture and language are inseparable.

Overview and biography

Dotremont emerged from the wartime and immediate postwar avant-garde, moving between surrealist circles and more experimental, collective practices. In 1948 he helped launch CoBrA with artists including Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant, and Pierre Alechinsky, co-editing its journal and championing spontaneous creation, collaboration, and anti-academic freedoms. Fragile health and bouts of tuberculosis in the 1950s steered him toward periods of retreat and travel, notably to Scandinavia and Lapland. He died in Belgium in 1979, leaving a body of work that remains central to postwar European art and poetry.

Artistic practice

“J’écris des peintures,” he liked to say: I write paintings. From the early 1960s he developed logograms—improvised inscriptions in brush and ink made in one breath-like session. The marks oscillate between legible French words and abstract calligraphy, often accompanied by a typed or handwritten “reading” of the poem. He also made logograms in snow, photographed as traces of writing in landscape. Collaboration was a constant method: collective paintings, books, and experiments with Asger Jorn, Alechinsky, Serge Vandercam, and other CoBrA peers threaded poetry through image-making.

Legacy, collections, archives

Dotremont’s work is held by major European museums and collections, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Brussels), LaM–Lille Métropole (Villeneuve-d’Ascq), and the Cobra Museum of Modern Art (Amstelveen). His manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and working notes are preserved in Belgian literary and museum archives; the Archives et Musée de la Littérature (Brussels) maintains a significant Dotremont fund that supports research, editions, and exhibitions.

News and recent projects

• Centenary focus: The year 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of Dotremont’s birth, prompting renewed attention in Belgium and France through readings, focused displays, and reprints of logogram selections.
• CoBrA at 75: In 2023, the 75th anniversary of CoBrA brought group exhibitions and collection rotations featuring Dotremont’s works, historically contextualizing his role as the movement’s key writer-organizer.
• Archives and editions: Ongoing cataloging and digitization of papers and logograms by Belgian literary archives and partner museums have supported new scholarly essays, facsimile editions, and public programs.
• Market and visibility: Works on paper and collaborative pieces continue to appear at European auctions and gallery shows, sustaining public visibility and research interest.

Social media details

There is no official personal account for Dotremont. Visibility is maintained through museum and archive channels that post his works, archival images, and lecture recordings.

• Follow institutions: Cobra Museum of Modern Art; Centre Pompidou; Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; LaM–Lille Métropole; Archives et Musée de la Littérature; Royal Library of Belgium.
• Common hashtags: #ChristianDotremont, #Dotremont, #CoBrA, #Logograms, #Logogrammes, #BelgianArt, #ÉcriturePeinte.
• Platforms: Instagram and X (for exhibition highlights), Facebook (event notices), YouTube/Vimeo (recorded talks and walkthroughs).

How to explore further

• Museum collection databases: search “Christian Dotremont” for holdings, essays, and high-resolution images.
• Archives: consult Belgian literary archives for letters, drafts, and notebooks; many entries provide reference scans and finding aids.
• Exhibition catalogs: CoBrA surveys and logogram monographs give translations and readings alongside images.

At a glance

Name: Christian Dotremont. Born: 13 December 1922, Tervuren, Belgium. Died: 1979, Belgium. Roles: poet, painter, organizer. Known for: CoBrA co-founder; logograms; collaborative art-poetry practice.