Fernand Verhaegen (1883–1975) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

painter and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. He was born in

Marchienne-au-Pont Marchienne-au-Pont ( wa, Mårciene) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It was a commune in its own right before the merger of communes in 1977, when it had a popul ...

, near Charleroi in Wallonia. He took courses 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 B ...

from 1900 to 1906 and there became friends with

Rik Wouters Hendrik Emil (Rik) Wouters (21 August 1882 – 11 July 1916) was a Belgian painter, sculptor and draughtsman. Wouters produced 200 paintings, drawings and sculptures in his 34 years before his illness-caused death. he died partway through th ...

and Edgard Tytgat. After graduation, he exhibited his works in Belgium and abroad (Biennale of Venice in 1920 and 1922). His style gradually evolved from

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and Belgian luminism to a synthetic form of capturing reality. In his later years, he came back to a personal form of impressionism. Verhaegen specialized in painting Walloon folklore: Carnival of Binche (he was soon recognised as the painter of "the Gilles of Binche"), Doudou of Mons, Giants of Ath, Chinelles of Fosses, Chaudia of Leernes, Pasqueye, and so on. He also created a series of etchings devoted to the folklore in Wallonia. In his book about this artist, Robert Magremanne has named him "the great master of the Walloon folklore". He died in

Montigny-le-Tilleul Montigny-le-Tilleul (; wa, Montniye-Tiyoû) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Montigny-le-Tilleul had a total population of 10,205. The total area is 15.10 km² which gives a popu ...

in 1975. Verhaegen's works are in many museums of Belgium ( Antwerp,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Charleroi,

Ixelles (French, ) or ( Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the munic ...

, Liège, Mons) and abroad (

Genève , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, Indianapolis).

References

*Magremanne, Robert (2003). ''Fernand Verhaegen, le grand maître du folklore wallon''. Charleroi (Belgium): Imprimerie Provinciale du Hainaut.

External links

Fernand Verhaegen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verhaegen, Fernand 1883 births 1975 deaths Belgian etchers Walloon people Walloon movement activists 20th-century Belgian painters 20th-century printmakers