Eugène Jules Joseph Baron Laermans (22 October 1864 – 22 February 1940) was a Belgian painter.

Life

He was born in

Sint-Jans-Molenbeek ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

. At the age of eleven, he contracted

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, which left him deaf and nearly mute (although some sources say he was born deaf). This concentrated his attention on his sense of sight, and led to his decision to become a painter. He enrolled at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in Br ...

in 1887, where he studied with

Jean-François Portaels Jean-François Portaels or Jan Portaels (3 April 1818 – 8 February 1895) was a Belgian painter of genre scenes, biblical stories, landscapes, portraits and orientalist subjects. He was also a teacher and director of the Academy of Fine Arts ...

and was a great admirer of the paintings of

Félicien Rops Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...

. The writings of

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

were also an influence, so Laermans joined the

Decadent movement The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality. The Decadent movement first flourished ...

in 1890 and created illustrations for Baudelaire's book ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...

''. By 1893, his work resembled that of Bruegel rather than the decadents, and he had settled on his signature theme, portrayals of downtrodden laborers and poor peasants which some critics saw as "disturbing caricatures". In 1894, he began to exhibit at the Salons of

La Libre Esthétique ''La Libre Esthétique'' ( French; "The Free Aesthetics") was an artistic society founded in 1893 in Brussels, Belgium to continue the efforts of the artists' group ''Les XX'' dissolved the same year. To reduce conflicts between artists invited or ...

. Two years later, he illustrated ''La Nouvelle Carthage'', a novel by

Georges Eekhoud Georges Eekhoud (27 May 1854 – 29 May 1927) was a Belgian novelist of Flemish descent, but writing in French. Eekhoud was a regionalist best known for his ability to represent scenes from rural and urban daily life. He tended to portray the ...

, and was inspired by the book to create a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

of paintings, "Landverhuisers" (Emigrants), that he considered his masterpiece. In 1922, he became a member of the

Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...

. Two years later, his eyesight began to fail as well and he stopped painting, declaring "I am no longer Laermans". In 1927, the year his mother died, King

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

made him a baron. He became totally blind, faded into reclusive obscurity and died thirteen years later, in Brussels and was buried in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. In

Wemmel Wemmel (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality only comprises the town of Wemmel proper. On January 1, 2018, Wemmel had a total population of 16,347. The total area is 8.74 km² which gives ...

, there is a wall called the "Laermansmuur". Once, as a student, when he was home on vacation, Laersman saved a drowning man there and the wall was later named after him. It is a low, whitewashed wall of a style that appears in many of his paintings.

Honours

* 1919 : Commander of the Order of the Crown. * 1922 : Member of the

. * 1927 : Created Baron Laermans.

Selected works

File:Eugène Laermans - De blinde (KMSKA).jpg, The Blind Woman (1898) File:Eugène Laermans - Oasis (KMSKA).jpg, The Oasis (c.1912) File:Bruxelles Laermans ivrogne.JPG, The Drunkard (1898) File:Eugène Laermans De voddenrapers (1914) 12-02-2010 15-07-38.jpg, The Ragpickers (1914)

References

External links

*
ArtNet: More works by Laermans

Arcadja Auctions: Six pages of paintings by Laermans

An appreciation of Laermans by Carl Itschert (31 May 1913) {{DEFAULTSORT:Laermans, Eugene 1864 births 1940 deaths 19th-century Belgian painters 19th-century Belgian male artists 20th-century Belgian painters People from Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Barons of Belgium Deaf artists Deaf people from Belgium 20th-century Belgian male artists

Life

Honours

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links