Léon Spilliaert | |
|---|---|
 Photographic portrait of Spilliaert, taken between 1930 and 1946 | |
| Born | (1881-07-28)28 July 1881 |
| Died | 23 November 1946(1946-11-23) (aged 65) Brussels, Belgium |
| Known for | draughtsman, watercolorist, illustrator,Painter,graphic designer |
| Movement | Symbolism,expressionism |
Léon Spilliaert (alsoLeon Spilliaert; 28 July 1881 – 23 November 1946) was aBelgian draughtsman, illustrator, lithographer and painter. In his early career, he contributed to the development ofsymbolism in the visual arts in Belgium. He frequented the milieu of Belgian symbolist writers, of whichMaurice Maeterlinck andÉmile Verhaeren were the best known members. His work was inspired by visual and literary works byEdvard Munch,Fernand Khnopff,Edgar Allan Poe,Nietzsche andLautréamont.
His subject matter was wide-ranging and included self-portraits,marines, forest views, portraits, still lifes, airships, dolls and genre scenes. He was a prolific illustrator of contemporary and historical literary works. His style is characterized by tenebrism and simplicity of form, and the bitter and mysterious expression of his characters and landscapes.
Spilliaert was born inOstend, the oldest of seven children of Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert, a perfumer, and his wife Léonie (née Jonckheere).[1] From childhood, he displayed an interest in art and drawing. A prolific doodler and autodidact, he was predominantly a self-taught artist. Sickly and reclusive, he spent most of his youth sketching scenes of ordinary life and the Belgian countryside.
In 1899, at the age of 18, he entered the Bruges Academy of Art as a pupil of Pieter Raoux. Among his classmates were Léon Slabbinck and Cornelis Leegenhoek. However, he soon became disappointed and left the academy in January 1900. For this lack of formal artistic training, Spilliaert is considered more of an autodidact.
When he was 21, Spilliaert went to work inBrussels for Edmond Deman, a publisher of the works of symbolist writers, for which Spilliaert was to design illustrations. Deman introduced Léon Spilliaert to the art scene in Brussels. It was also there that he discovered the work of the old masters and contemporary painters through reproductions and exhibited works of art. Spilliaert stayed with Deman until January 1904. He had an affair with the 17-year old daughter of Deman which ended in a painful breakup which sent Spilliaert into a depression. At the end of January 1904, Spilliaert left Brussels for Paris to try his luck with a publisher or printer of art books. Deman gave him a letter addressed to the writer Emile Verhaeren asking him to offer Spilliaert all the help he needed. In February 1904 Spilliaert met Verhaeren, who lived in Saint-Cloud, in Paris. A great friendship quickly developed between the two men. Verhaeren bought some of his works and introduced him to his friends and art dealers. One of them was Clovis Sagot, who at the time was exhibiting works by Pablo Picasso.
Between 1907 and 1913, Léon Spilliaert exhibited his work at various events: Salon de Printemps de Jean De Mot, Salon des Indépendants de Bruxelles, the salon of the Brussels Doe Stil Voort and the exhibition Les Bleus de la G.G.G. in Brussels.
In 1916 he married Rachel Vergison. They settled in Brussels, where their daughter was born. After the First World War, he collaborates with the Sélection group, which exhibits his work for many years. In 1922, the first exhibition entirely dedicated to his paintings takes place at the Brussels gallery Centaure. From 1925 to 1931, his work hangs in the Kursaal in Ostend. In 1937, he joined the Compagnons de l'Art. In 1922 he was made a Knight of theOrder of the Crown.[2]
He died on 23 November 1946 in Brussels.
Watercolor,gouache,pastel, andcharcoal—often in combination—were the means by which he produced many of his works, among which are a number of monochrome self-portraits executed in the early years of the twentieth century. Spilliaert's expressive use of black finds parallels in the work ofOdilon Redon, who was a significant influence.[3] Frequently depicting a lone figure in a dreamlike space, Spilliaert's paintings convey a sense of melancholy and silence.
His later work shows a concentration on seascapes. Among the best-known works of Léon Spilliaert are the imagesDigue la nuit andClair de Lune et Lumières. Both works are in theMusée d'Orsay in Paris.[4][5]
Most of Spilliaert's works are marked by an oppressive alien and elegiac atmosphere. InDigue la nuit (1908), the painter removes any naturalistic characteristics of the landscape depicted in the image and creates a stylization in which the location, that serves as a template, is redesigned to become the mirror of a state of mind. Solitude, mystery, and hallucination are suggested by the landscape.[4]
InClair de Lune et Lumières (c. 1909), the colonnade and arcades of the façade of the Kursaal ballroom on the seawall in Ostend served Spilliaert as a basis for the composition of an urban landscape. In this pastel painting, he catches the eerie transformation of the architecture at night and the strangeness that comes from artificial lighting. With its cosmic, metaphysical traitsClair de Lune et Lumières reveals the influence of Van Gogh, and is reminiscent ofThe Starry Night.[5]
In the period 1902–1909, Spilliaert concentrated on creating complex, profound self-portraits of an introspective nature. His 1903Self-Portrait with Masks (Musée d'Orsay) is a dramatic self-presentation with ghostly apparitions in the background and a wry face in three-quarter pose. This image may be regarded as a prototype for the three-quarter-portraits Spilliaert created later.[6]
Ian Wilson'sSpilliaert's Beach, for violin and piano, was inspired by and named for the paintingMoonlight Beach.[7]
