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, Léon De Smet, also became a painter.

Biography

He was born in Ghent. His father was a set decorator and photographer. Both Gustave and his brother began working in their father's studio, then attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where they studied under Jean Delvin.[1] Unlike Léon, Gustave was considered to be an indifferent student.

In 1908, he and his wife followed Léon to the artists' colony in Sint-Martens-Latem.[1] There, they initially came under the influence of Luminism and the painter Emile Claus, who lived in nearby Astene. At the beginning of World War I, he and his family joined his friend, Van den Berghe, and fled to the Netherlands. From 1914 to 1922, they moved about, visiting and staying at the art colonies in Amsterdam, Laren and Blaricum.[2] His meeting with the Expressionist painter Henri Le Fauconnier marked a turning point in his style which, up until then, owed much to Cubism.[2]

He returned to Belgium in 1922, but continued to move frequently, usually in the company of his friends Van den Berghe and Permeke, beginning in Oostende, then to Bachte-Maria-Leerne and Afsnee, where he lived in a villa provided by the art promoter and journalist, Paul-Gustave van Hecke. In 1927, he finally settled in Deurle.[1]

It was there that his mixture of Expressionism and Cubism peaked, with a series of works depicting circus, fairground and village scenes. After his death in Deurle at the age of sixty-six, his house was preserved as a local museum.

Selected paintings

The Artist and His Wife

The Great Shooting Gallery

The Man with the Bottle

The Young Captain

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Gustave De Smet are:

Antwerpen, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten
Brussel, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België
Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum
Deinze, Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek
Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum[3]
Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten
Oostende, Mu.ZEE
Venlo, Museum van Bommel van Dam
Zwolle, Museum De Fundatie[4]

References

Brief biography from Dictionnaire des peintres belges @ Belgian Art Links.
Biographical notes @ the De Valk Lexicon kunstenaars Laren-Blaricum.
DCN, Frans Hals Museum

Digitale Collectien Nederland