1864 -1940 · Belgian social realism, symbolism and peasant world

Peasants, workers, blind people and emigrants advance through the landscapes of Laermans like human friezes, heavy with silence and collective destiny.

Eugène Laermans was born in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in 1864. A meningitis contracted in childhood made him deaf and almost mute, isolating him from the world of sound and reinforcing his attention to gesture, silhouette and collective expression. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, notably with Jean-François Portaels, and discovered Bruegel, Félicien Rops as well as Belgian naturalist writers. Contrary to social painting, Laermans chose the populations of the suburbs and the countryside: bent peasants, workers, beggars, processions, exoduses and burials. His compositions combine social realism and symbolist simplification. His compositions combine social realism and symbolist simplification. The stocky bodies advance in profile, the ground rises towards the horizon and the muted colors - ochres, red browns, blacks and grays - give the group a monumental gravity. The Emigrants, a set created in 1896, constitutes a peak of this vision. In the main panel kept at the KMSKA in Antwerp, a crowd leaves their country in a long procession which goes beyond individual stories. Laermans enjoyed significant international recognition and became a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. From the 1920s, the view declined sharply; Having become blind, he stopped painting. Having become blind, he stopped painting. Died in Brussels in 1940, he stopped painting. Having become blind, he stopped painting. Having died in Brussels in 1940, he stopped painting. Having become blind, he stopped painting. Having died in Brussels in 1940, he stopped painting. Having become blind, he stopped painting. Having died in Brussels in 1940, he stopped painting. Having died in Brussels in 1940, he stopped painting. Having died in Brussels in 1920, his eyesight declined sharply; From the 1920s, his eyesight declined sharply; From the 1920s, his eyesight declined sharply; From the 192 Laermans" notably compares Les Émigrants. Its reading favors details.

Laermans transforms walking into language: inclined bodies, horizon line and muted colors give each individual destiny the weight of a collective history.