Gegen den Strich
Hélion resumed work in 1943 with a series of depersonalized images of men in hats. Deliberative as always, he painted many close variations on favorite themes, including women at open windows and men reading newspapers. In the following years he developed the cartoon-like aspect of the style he had embraced. A major work of 1947, "À rebours" ("Wrong Way Up"), is one of several compositions in which a female nude is represented upside down. In 1949 and 1950 he painted a series of severely awkward, bony female nudes in bare interiors.