Belgian Modern Masters - Ensor, Magritte and fellow individualists

Belgium’s location was of the highest geopolitical importance long before the foundation of the modern nation in 1830. Being at the crossroads of national and cultural cross-currents helped foster economic prosperity; at the end of the Middle Ages this was the richest territory in Europe outside Italy, and in the 19th century Belgium was in the forefront of industrialisation. But that advantage could be tragically upended, as it was, twice, in the 20th century, when wars raged across the country.

Back to upsides: cultural diversity, and being well plugged into international movements in literature, music and art. A fascinating feature, however, is that Belgian artists developed their own voice. Avant-garde art in Belgium in the eighty years from around 1880 is one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of modern European art, though not among the best-known, perhaps because of habitual individualism.

Early on, Symbolism was a major strand, with Spilliaert, Ensor and Félicien Rops among the practitioners. Though for his inventiveness and sheer variety of expression, James Ensor (1860–1949) is in a class apart. Phases of his work through his long life are classifiable as Symbolist, Expressionist, Surrealist or simply as individual. He drew on Flemish tradition, incorporating masks, macabre skeletons and fantastic creatures in the tradition of Bosch and Brueghel. The 75th anniversary of his death is being commemorated in several exhibitions.

Belgium had their own Fauvres, among whom was painter and sculptor Rik Wouters. Then Expressionism – and Animism, a milder form – took the lead, though in contrast with the German variety it was dominated by rural and peasant themes. The works of Constant Permeke (1886–1952) are often considered an embodiment of Flemish identity, but it is fair to

place him in an international context alongside Picasso. His works are earthy, immensely powerful and frequently beautiful, and it is a mystery why they are not better known outside his native country.

Many Belgian artists went through an Abstract phase, and some stayed the course all their lives, but it is Surrealism for which Belgium is better known. René Magritte led the pack, rejecting the interests of his French peers in automatism and the subconscious and concentrating on the problems of representation and conceptual thought. Not quite a Surrealist, Paul Delvaux (1897–1994) was a painter of dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and skeletons.

A striking feature of this tour is the number of artists’ houses seen. Worldwide, few are more evocative than Magritte’s in Brussels, despite – or because of – its suburban ordinariness. Delvaux’s home was in the rural village of St. Idesbald-Koksijde. The home and office of Victor Horta, the leading architect of his time and progenitor of Art Nouveau, is one of the most remarkable of artists’ houses of any era.

Sculpture blossomed in Belgium to a remarkable degree from the end of the 19th century. Constantin Meunier (1831–1905) is now – but not then – the best known because of his forceful, sympathetic and realistic renderings of working people.