Léon Spilliaert : Avec La Mer Du Nord...

Exhibition at the Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne, 27 January - 29 May 2023

Self-taught, trained in the literature of his time and convinced of his destiny as a chosen artist, as Nietzsche conceived it, Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946) is the author of a profoundly original body of work, nourished by metaphysical questions and Flemish culture, and produced almost exclusively on paper.

Mixing graphic techniques such as Indian ink, graphite, black chalk, pastel, coloured pencils, then watercolour and gouache, the native of Ostend weaves links with contemporary symbolism and expressionism, and seems to announce, in his most radical landscapes, simplified to the extreme, geometric abstraction and minimalism.

Organised thematically and chronologically, this exhibition catalogue brings together some one hundred of Spilliaert's works, thus covering the entire career of one of the most important Belgian artists of the early 20th century.