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Leon Spilliaert Edit Profile

painter

Leon Spilliaert was a Belgian painter, who represented Symbolism and Expressionism movements. Depicting nocturnal landscapes, windswept beach scenes, and alien portraits, Spilliaert’s oeuvre is united in its consistent fascination with the interior emotional landscape of people. Leon often used pastels to create the sense of a dream-like haze, lending his work a distinctive, softened aesthetic.

Background

Leon Spilliaert was born on July 28, 1881 in Ostend, Belgium. He was the son of Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert, a perfumer, and Léonie (Jonckheere) Spilliaert.

Education

In 1899, Leon enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Bruges, which he attended during a few months. Spilliaert decided, that no formal art education would match his needs, so he decided to become a self-taught artist.

Career

During the period from February 1903 to January 1904, Leon worked for Edmond Deman, the publisher, who was associated particularly with Emile Verhaeren, who encouraged him.

In 1904, Spilliaert stayed in Paris, where he was on the fringe of Picasso’s circle and discovered the work of Munch and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose influences he acknowledged.

Spilliaert explored the possibilities of the self-portrait with great intensity in the years 1907–1908, a decisive period which saw him produce some very important work. In the same period, the theme of the mirror became a recurring element in his self-portraits. Spilliaert’s relationship with this image-creating object, like the artist, constantly wavered between seduction and repulsion.

Since 1912, Leon executed large-scale pastels of various harbour scenes, with large schematized figures that influenced Constant Permeke. He moved in literary and cultural circles and was a friend of the Belgian playwright Fernand Crommelynck, as well as of Stefan Zweig who had followed his career from its beginnings.

The painter's first personal exhibition took place in 1922 in Brussels. Some time later, in 1929, Leon's another large solo exhibition was held at Galerie Georges Giroux in Brussels.

Achievements

  • Leon's most famous works are the images "Digue la nuit" and "Clair de Lune et Lumières". Some of his works are kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent.

    In 1922, Leon Spilliaert was made a Knight of the Order of the Crown.

Works

  • painting

    • Young Man with Red Scarf

    • Young Woman and Dog

    • Self-Portrait

    • A Forest

All works

Connections

Leon married Raquel Ferguson on December 23, 1916. The following year, in March the couplу moved to Brussels. Their daughter, Madeleine, was born on November 15, 1917.

Father:
Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert

Mother:
Léonie (Jonckheere) Spilliaert

child:
Madeleine Spilliaert

Wife:
Raquel Ferguson