27. Rik Wouters
These works were painted by Rik Wouters, who took his first artistic steps in his father's joinery workshop. He made furniture there and discovered his talent for sculpting. At the age of eighteen, he entered the Academy in Brussels and also started painting during this period. He exhibited at La Libre Esthétique in Brussels and Kunst van Heden in Antwerp, and joined forces with Brussels gallerist Georges Giroux in 1911. In 1913, he produced an impressive bust of James Ensor. During WWI, he was a prisoner of war in the Netherlands and found out he had cancer. Wouters died in 1916, aged just 33.
Although he saw himself primarily as a sculptor, Wouters is considered the most important Belgian Fauvist and is appreciated for the stunning colours in his paintings. He greatly admired Ensor: on his use of colour, he said: "The sky is pink! Goddamn, what a pink it is!". Under Ensor's influence, Wouters also began using pure colours.
In the still life Etching Table, the bottles full of caustic acid form a stunning contrast with the grey tones of the etch bath. Like a gurgling waterfall of blue and white, with glittering accents of red, green and yellow.
This work dating back to 1909 reflects his evolution as an artist. Wouters also started etching during this period and revealed himself to be an Expressionist.
Rik Wouters, like Spilliaert, transformed the still life to completely suit his endeavour. He was not concerned with what objects are actually like, but how he saw them. And the only thing he retained, as here, was their colour.
Wouters also discovered the work of the French painter Paul Cézanne and his exuberant use of colour. Like Cézanne, he painted things on an inclined plane: depicting the skinned rabbit and hare sliding down emphasises the weight of the dead meat. As a result the presentation is closer to Walter Vaes and Hubert Bellis' raw still life paintings.
The work Sombre Mood perhaps betrays Wouter's state of mind during his illness. He had undergone surgery and wore an eye patch. He thus painted large dark areas of colour and simple shapes, until his eyesight deteriorated following another operation, when he stopped painting for good.