Éliane Georgette Diane de Meuse (9 August 1899 – 3 February 1993) was a Belgian painter. She was the wife of Max Van Dyck. They met at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels ( ''(ArBA-EsA)''; ) is an art school in Brussels, Belgium, founded in 1711. Starting from modest beginnings in a single room in Brussels Town Hall, Brussels' Town Hall, it has since 1876 been operat ...

, Brussels where they attended the courses of the same professors.

Biography

Eliane de Meuse took her first drawing lessons at the age of fourteen with Ketty Hoppe, the wife of the Belgian painter Victor Gilsoul. She also trained in the studio of the genre painter Guillaume Van Strydonck, member of ''

Les XX ''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their a ...

'' and

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic ...

's friend. At the same time, she received advice from the sculptor Marcel Rau,

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

1908. In 1916, Meuse decided to become a painter and joined L'Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. There, she met the young painter Max Van Dyck, (23 December 1902, (Brussels – Schaerbeek) – 26 December 1992, (Brussels – Ixelles) and married him in 1922. The latter had won the great Prix de Rome (Belgium) in 1920 when he was only 17 years old, a sensational event widely commented on in the Belgian press. He later taught the Decorative arts at the ''Académie des beaux-arts d'Anderlecht'' of which he eventually became the director. At the Academy (ARBA, Brussels) Meuse was the student of the Symbolist painter

Jean Delville Jean Delville, born Jean Libert (19 January 1867 – 19 January 1953), was a Belgian symbolist painter, author, poet, polemicist, teacher, and Theosophist. Delville was the leading exponent of the Belgian Idealist movement in art during the 18 ...

and the portraitist Herman Richir. From all of these influences, her art developed into a style similar to

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

, her subject matter including portraits, figures, seascapes, landscapes and still lifes. In some of her latest paintings underlying abstract structure can be observed. Critics noted that Eliane de Meuse had inherited much from the Belgian Luminism, movement of the very early 20th century, which combined aspects of Realism (

Realist visual arts Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to Representation (arts), represent subject-matter truthfully, without artificiality, exaggeration, or speculative fiction, speculative or supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeabl ...

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Neo-Impressionism Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the begin ...

. It got its name from the style of

Emile Claus Emile Claus (27 September 1849 – 14 June 1924) was a Belgian painter. Life Emile Claus was born on 27 September 1849, in Sint-Eloois-Vijve, a village in West Flanders (Belgium), at the banks of the river Lys (river), Lys. Emile was the twe ...

and a few other painters, grouped in a circle called ''Vie et Lumière'' (''Life and light'') of which Claus was one of the main founders. Charles Bernard, the foremost Belgian critic at that timeCaso Paul in monograph ''Eliane de Meuse'' edited by Prefilm, Brussels, p. 9, 1991. wrote that he considered the art of Eliane de Meuse as aimed towards ''a pure, clear artistic ideal, without any selfish motives''. He felt that the artist did not belong to the Impressionism of Emile Claus, so close to French

Pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...

, but that she was the spiritual daughter of James Ensor. In an article published on 22 October 1936 in the ''Nation belge'', he commented on Meuse's first exhibition in these words: ''A discovery... an artist that reinvents James Ensor and Rik Wouter's impressionism, that enriches impressionism with new elements, in terms of richness and interpretation indicating the presence of a personality...'' This exhibition took place in the ''Palais des Beaux-Arts'' (

Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels The Centre for Fine Arts (, ; , ) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in the Royal Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or by its initials PSK in Dutch. This multidisciplinary ...

), where a collection of paintings representing the outcome of fourteen years of dedication in the pursuit of personal expression was presented. The same year, in Le Courrier d’Anvers, Sander Pierron, another influential critic, wrote that he believed this young artist was called to a great destiny. He described Eliane de Meuse as a born colourist with a prodigious talent: '' Since

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 ...

such talent had not been observed... she is a colourist able to seize the tiniest variations of light and uses them with harmony as a musician should do with notes, displaying a personal feeling.'' K. de Bergen also noted the interesting use of colour in her works and added that she demonstrates that: ''the colour possesses its own truth''. Another critic signing his article by L. J. considered that we must place Eliane de Meuse amongst the most sensitive painters such as

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

or Marcel Jefferys. In his monograph dedicated to Eliane de Meuse Paul Caso wrote that: ''Every type of art work has been tackled, with a natural inclination for still lifes (frequently with wonderful flowers from her garden), the true nub of her work, often studied as a pile of objects, masks, flowers, draperies, many times assembled around the same chair from her studio, a chair which acquires a real personality, in an apparent disorder of forms and colours.'' In 1921, she won the Prix Godecharle created in 1881 by Napoleon Godecharle, the son of

Gilles-Lambert Godecharle Gilles-Lambert Godecharle (2 December 1750 in Brussels − 24 February 1835 in Brussels) was a Belgian sculptor, a pupil of Laurent Delvaux, "the only sculptor of international repute in Delvaux's retinue", who became one of two outstanding repr ...

. This prize gave her the opportunity to travel in Italy, the shock of a whole civilization, the ceaseless return to Renaissance sources.

Main individual exhibitions

* ''Palais des Beaux-arts de Bruxelles'' – 1936 (Belgium) * ''Cercle artistique d'Anvers'' – 1936 (Belgium) * ''Galerie Rencontre'' – 94 Louise Avenue, Brussels – 1981 (Belgium) * ''Kelterhaus-Muffendorf'' – Bonn (Bad-Godesberg) – 1982 (Germany) * ''Rétrospective'' organized by the ''City of Brussels'' and by the ''Crédit Général'', a Belgian bank located, Grand Place nr 5 at Brussels – 1991 (Belgium)

International group exhibitions

* ''Femmes artistes d'Europe'', Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris with representatives of the Impressionism

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

Marie Laurencin Marie Laurencin (31 October 1883 – 8 June 1956) was a French painter and printmaker. She became an important figure in the Parisian avant-garde as a member of the Cubists associated with the Section d'Or. Biography Laurencin was born in Par ...

and

Marie Bashkirtseff Marie Bashkirtseff, born Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva (; – 31 October 1884), was an émigré artist who was born into a noble family on their estate near the city of Poltava. She lived and worked in Paris, and died at the age of 25. L ...

1937 * ''l'Art belge'', at The Carnegie Institute (

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a nonprofit organization that operates four museums in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The organization is headquartered in the Carnegie Institute and Library complex in the Oakland neighborhood of Pitts ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) with other Belgian painters: Anto-Carte,

Constant Permeke Constant Permeke (; 31 July 1886 – 4 January 1952) was a Belgian painter and sculptor who is considered the leading figure of Flemish Expressionism. Biography Permeke was born in Antwerp but when he was six years old the family moved to Ost ...

Gustave De Smet Gustave Franciscus De Smet (21 January 1877 – 8 October 1943) was a Belgian painter. Together with Constant Permeke and Frits Van den Berghe, he was one of the founders of Flemish Expressionism. His younger brother, , also became a painter. ...

, Isidore Opsomer and

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...

1937 and 1938 * ''Exposition du Progrès social'', at the Galerie du Palais de la Mairie de Lille (France) – 1939 * ''Le Fauvisme brabançon'' organized at the Cercle artistique communal de Waterloo (Les Ecuries) not far from Brussels (Belgium) from September, 14 to 27 October 1996, with

, Jos Albert,

Charles Dehoy Charles Jean Dehoy (1872–1940) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist and etcher; associated with a group known as the "". He was best known for his landscapes. Biography He was the eldest child of Georges Dehoy (1850–1933), an upholsterer. A ...

, Philibert Cockx, Jean Brusselmans, Ramah,

Ferdinand Schirren Ferdinand Schirren (8 November 1872, Antwerp - 19 February 1944, Brussels) was a Belgian painter, watercolorist and sculptor of Jewish ancestry. Biography He was the sixth child and first son born to Josephe Schirren, a copper worker, and his wif ...

etc.Christian Desclez in ''catalog of the exhibition'' dedicated to Fauvisme brabançon, 1996

Some of her paintings

* ''Daphnis and Chloé'', oil on canvas (225 x 180 cm) – Godecharle Award 1921 * ''Les Dahlias blancs'', oil on canvas, former private collection of the Queen of the Belgians,

Elisabeth of Bavaria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austria on 24 April 1854 until h ...

* ''Still life with red shoes'', 1944, oil on canvas (71,5 x 80 cm), collection of

Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent The Museum of Fine Arts (, MSK) an art museum in Ghent, Belgium, is situated at the East side of the Citadelpark (near the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst). The museum's collection consists of some 9000 artworks, dating from the Middle Ages to ...

(MSK), Belgium, in the ''Eliane de Meuse'' monograph of Paul Caso edited by Editions Prefilm, Brussels, 1991, page 26 * ''L'enfant'', oil on canvas (60 x 48 cm), collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts Tournai, Belgium, in the museum 's catalogue of paintings and sculptures, page 68 (inventory's number 451) and in the ''Eliane de Meuse'' monograph of Paul Caso edited by Editions Prefilm, Brussels, 1991, page 21 * ''Marianne'', oil on canvas (81 x 61 cm), collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts Tournai, Belgium, in the museum 's catalogue of paintings and sculptures, page 68 (inventory's number 453) and in the ''Eliane de Meuse'' monograph of Paul Caso edited by Editions Prefilm, Brussels, 1991, page 56 * ''Bouquet'', oil on canvas stuck on panel (60 x 50 cm), collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts Tournai, Belgium, in the museum 's catalogue of paintings and sculptures, page 68 (inventory's number 452) * '' Nu à contre-jour'', circa 1920, oil on canvas (99,5 x 80 cm), private Belgian collection, in ''Paul Piron's'' dictionary, volume 3, page 234 * '' Rêverie'', 1932, oil on canvas (80 x 70 cm), private Belgian collection, reproduced in the catalogue of The Concours Godecharle created by Gilles-Lambert Godecharle and in the ''Eliane de Meuse'' monograph of Paul Caso edited by Editions Prefilm, Brussels, 1991, page 52 * ''Centaurées'', oil on canvas, (80 x 70 cm), entered in January 1992 into the CBC Banque's collection (formerly Crédit Général). This painting mentioned in the catalogue of the works exhibited in the Brussels Gallery of the Crédit Général under reference nr 23, was offered by the artist to the bank for their free sponsoring. * ... and in the Belgian State collections ''Interieur'', oil on canvas (61,5 x 60,5 cm), in the ''Eliane de Meuse'' monograph by Paul Caso edited by Editions Prefilm, Brussels, 1991, page 71.

Notes

Documentary broadcast on television

''Personnalité à domicile : Éliane de Meuse'' interviewed by Éric Russon, Télé-Bruxelles, 1991

External links

Winners list of the Concours Godecharle since its creation
* Official website of Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai (Belgium

* Official website of Museum of Fine Arts of Gand (Belgium

* Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium' s librar

''Still life with red shoes''
at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage
''Marianne''
at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage * Notice in ''Le Dictionnaire des peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours depuis les premiers maîtres des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège jusqu'aux artistes contemporains'' in two volumes, La Renaissance du Livre, département de De Boeck-Wesmael, Bruxelles, 199

* Carnegie Institute Pittsburg

* Archives du Palais Royal du Royaume de Belgiqu

* '' Frans Hens'' (1856–1928

et * ''Charles Bernard'' (1875–1961

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Meuse, Eliane 1899 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Belgian painters Painters from Brussels Fauvism Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels alumni 20th-century Belgian women painters