René Magritte | The Blank Signature, 1965

"Everything that is visible hides something that is invisible" - René Magritte

In The Blank Signature, René Magritte (Belgian surrealist artist, 1898-1967) does what he does best: he takes our familiar world, breaks it into pieces, and then reassembles it…

As one of the leading figures of the surrealist movement in 1920s Paris, Magritte's approach mirrors one of the group’s fundamental principles.

The surrealist manifesto, a multi-page written declaration drawn up by André Breton in 1924, states their aim was to "liberate the mind by subverting rational thought and giving free reign to the unconscious".

René Magritte | The Blank Signature, 1965 | National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Great paintings from the Clark Art Institute

Adrien Moreau | Contemplation, 1873

The solitary woman in Moreau's painting gazes down toward a duck pond.

Her contemplative expression -and the painting's title- suggest that she has chosen this isolated spot to be alone with her thoughts.

The woman's fashionable city clothes have been painted with a degree of detail that contrasts with the more textured brushstrokes used to describe the surrounding landscape. | Source: © Clark Art Institute

Adrien Moreau (French, 1843-1906) | Contemplation, 1873 | Clark Art Institute

Juliette Wytsman | Impressionist painter

Juliette Wytsman (1866-1925) was a Belgian impressionist painter.

She was married to painter Rodolphe Wytsman.

Her paintings are in the collections of several museums in Belgium.

Wytsman was born as Juliette Trullemans on 14 July 1866 in Brussels, in Belgium.

She first studied under Henri Hendrickx at the Bischoffsheim Institute in Brussels.

Henri Evenepoel | Fauve painter

Henri-Jacques-Edouard Evenepoel was born on this day October 3, 1872, in Nice. The artist died at the age of 27, in 1899.

Evenepoel was a French-born Belgian artist, whose most important works are associated with Fauvism.

He first studied art in Brussels at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts between 1889 and 1890, and entered Paris's Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1892.

Evenepoel entered the atelier of Gustave Moreau in 1893, which put him in contact with Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Albert Marquet, Edgar Maxence, Charles Milcendeau and Léon Printemps.

Emile Claus | Il pittore Luminista

Oggi si celebra il 175° compleanno della figura più brillante del Luminismo, il belga Emile Claus (27 settembre 1849 - 14 giugno 1924).

Dalla sua casa idilliaca lungo il fiume Leie, Claus dipinse capolavori che continuano ad affascinare gli amanti dell'arte in tutto il mondo.

Émile Claus nacque in un piccolo villaggio delle Fiandre occidentali, sulle rive della Lys, sedicesimo figlio di una famiglia di commercianti rurali.

Konstantinos Kavafis | Muri / Walls / Τείχη

Senza preavviso, né pietà, senza nessun pudore,

muri massicci ed alti mi hanno costruito intorno.

E sono qui che mi dispero e per il mio dolore

non penso ad altro: e mi rodo il cervello tutto il giorno.

René Magritte

James Ensor | The Oyster Eater / La mangiatrice di ostriche, 1882

"The Oyster Eater" is an oil painting executed in 1882 by the Belgian Expressionist artist James Ensor which is now in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.

The genre work depicts the artist's sister Mitche eating oysters on her own at a well-appointed table replete with flowers, plates, wine and table linen.

Art critics were unapologetic about James Ensor's "The Oyster Eater".

"Offensive! Immoral! Vice!"

Yet there is not a streak of nudity to be seen, nor intimately entwined bodies.

So what was the problem?

Anna Boch | Post-impressionist painter

Anna Boch participated in the Neo-Impressionist movement.

Her early works used a Pointillist technique, but she is best known for her Impressionist style which she adopted for most of her career.

A pupil of Isidore Verheyden, she was influenced by Théo van Rysselberghe whom she met in the artistic group, Les XX.

Anna-Rosalie Boch (1848-1936), known as Anna, was a Belgian painter, art collector, and the only female member of the artistic group, Les XX.

Frantz Charlet | Impressionist painter

Frantz Charlet (1862-1928) was a Belgian painter, etcher and lithographer.

An Impressionist, he was one of the founding members in 1882, with James Ensor and Théo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926) of the group Les XX.

It is one of the first painters in Belgium to look for brighter colours and a spontaneous touch, thus becoming closer French Impressionists.

Charlet studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels from 1872-1873 and again from 1876-1881; among his fellow pupils there were Eugène Broerman, François-Joseph Halkett, Théo van Rysselberghe and Rodolphe Wytsman, and his teacher was Jean-François Portaels.

Théo Van Rysselberghe and Les XX

Théo van Rysselberghe was one of the prominent co-founders of the Belgian artistic circle Les XX on 28 October 1883.

This was a circle of young radical artists, under the patronage, as secretary, of the Brussels jurist and art lover Octave Maus (1856-1919).

They rebelled against the outmoded academism of the time and the prevailing artistic standards.

Maya Angelou / René Magritte | I know why the caged bird sings, 1969

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

Jean-François Portaels | A Sicilian bride, 1861

Jean-François Portaels | A Sicilian bride, 1861 | Royal Collection of the United Kingdom

Three-quarter length, facing half left, her head turned to the viewer; seated on a stone bench; she wears a white dress with red trim and flower petals embroidered on the lower sleeves, and a black sleevless garment; with loosely arranged lace headgear; holding a rosary.

Eugène Laermans | Genre painter

Eugène Jules Joseph Baron Laermans (1864-1940) was a Belgian painter.

He was born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. At the age of eleven, he contracted meningitis, which left him deaf and nearly mute (although some sources say he was born deaf).

This concentrated his attention on his sense of sight, and led to his decision to become a painter.

He enrolled at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1887, where he studied with Jean-François Portaels and was a great admirer of the paintings of Félicien Rops.

Léon Frédéric | Symbolist painter

Léon-Henri-Marie Frédéric (1856-1940) was a Belgian Symbolist painter.

His earliest paintings joined Christian mysticism with pantheistic themes, while his later works increasingly reflected social concerns.

Much of his work also shows the influence of fifteenth and sixteenth century Flemish art and Renaissance painting styles.

Jane Graverol | Surrealist painter

Jane Graverol (1905-1984) was a Belgian surrealist painter of French extraction.

Life

Jane Graverol was born in Ixelles on 18 December 1905 to Alexandre Graverol and Anne-Marie Lagadec.

After a traditional education, she enrolled in the Brussels Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1921, where she was taught by Jean Delville and Constant Montald.

François-Joseph Navez | Neoclassical painter

François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869) was a Belgian Neoclassical painter; known for his portraits and genre scenes.

As the son of an alderman, in a privileged family, he was able to devote himself entirely to art from an early age.

From 1803 to 1808, he was a pupil at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied with Pierre Joseph Célestin François.

François-Joseph Navez | The Massacre of the Innocents, 1824

"The massacre of the innocents' was created in 1824 by Belgian painter François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869) in Neoclassicism style.

The painting is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"The Massacre of the Innocents" is a story from the life of Christ.

As recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (2:16-18), Herod the Great, King of Judea, ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two in and near the town of Bethlehem.

Herod’s larger aim was to kill the infant Jesus, who had been heralded as King of the Jews.

François-Joseph Navez | The Massacre of the Innocents, 1824 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles van Beveren | Romantic painter

Charles Van Beveren (1809-1850) was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the most important colorists of his time.

Charles van Beveren, was a portrait, history and genre painter of the Romantic period, who spent much of his life in Amsterdam.

He was born at Mechlin in 1809, and studied art at the academy of his native city and at Antwerp.

He settled in Amsterdam in 1830, subsequently visiting Paris, Rome, and other cities of Italy, and distinguished himself as a painter of history, genre and portraits.

Thierry Lechanteur, 1968 | Voyage imaginaire en Art Nouveau

Thierry Lechanteur is one of the pioneers in the use of Artificial Intelligence in Belgium and in photography, creating images that transcend the limits of reality to offer a surprising visual experience.

At the crossroads of artistic photography and technology, Thierry Lechanteur, an experienced artist born in Liège, skillfully combines traditional photography techniques with cutting-edge digital manipulation.

By exploring the frontiers of AI in the art world, he questions the limits between man and machine, while bringing a new vision to the world of photography and digital art.

Gis De Maeyer, 1942 | Figurative sculptor

Gis de Maeyer is a Belgian sculptress who was born in 1942.

Education: Academy of Fine Arts Aalst, Anderlecht and Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.

We are always in awe of Gis De Maeyer's ability to capture sentiments so beautifully with her bronze sculptures.