Laermans Eugène

Eugène Laermans was a Belgian artist, born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in 1864 and died in Brussels in 1940. He was a painter, graphic artist and draftsman. At the age of 11 he became deaf as a result of meningitis. He studied drawing at the Academy in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (1876-1882) and at the Academy in Brussels, under the supervision of A. Robert and J. Portaels (1882-1887). He then took painting lessons for ten years at the Free Academy La patte de dindon. He was a painter of working-class and rural life and was always concerned with social problems. He was a pioneer of Belgian expressionism. His worldview was tragic and pathetic and this was emphasized by a sombre color palette. With his representations of the peasant population in Brabant, he responded to the social problems of the end of the 19th century. His own deafness may have contributed to this tragic, often bitter-looking work. His rural scenes are in the line of C. Meunier and Ch. De Groux, but also bear witness to a vision of its own: for the first time, the workmen and the peasant population were regarded as a group. The background of his works often consisted of a white wall and a threatening sky. In his synthesized, sometimes somewhat caricatured design, realism and innovation merge. After 1900, a certain joy appeared in his work with subjects such as children bathing, oasis. He made his debut with the Forward Group, was a member of the Pour l'Art Group and exhibited at the first exhibition of the Libre Esthétique in 1894. From 1909 he gradually became blind and was forced to stop all artistic activities in 1924. In 1927 he was given the title of Baron. Work by Eugène Laermans can be found in the museums in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Liège. He is extensively mentioned in the Biographie Nationale of the Royal Academy of Belgium, volume XXIX. He is mentioned in BAS I and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists; (Piron)