1872 -1899 · Brussels, Paris and Algeria

Frank color, modern silhouettes and tender observation of the crowd make Henri Evenepoel a dazzling promise of Belgian fin-de-siecle painting.

Henri-Jacques-Édouard Evenepoel was born in Nice in 1872 into a cultured Belgian family. After the early death of his mother, he grew up in Brussels and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1892, he went to Paris and entered the School of Fine Arts. The following year, Gustave Moreau's workshop became decisive: rather than imposing a doctrine, the master encouraged the singularity of his students, including Matisse, Rouault and Marquet. Evenepoel intensely observed Parisian life. He drew the crowd, photographed those close to him and sometimes used his photos to think about framing. Manet and Whistler nourish his full-length portraits on a simple background; Toulouse-Lautrec and Forain help him to seize the modern street. His favorite models are his cousin Louise, her children and her Spanish friend Francisco Iturrino. In the square isolates figures in a public space where modest gestures reveal family relationships. Sunday at the Bois de Boulogne observes the bourgeois promenade like a colorful mass, made of hats, trees and interrupted movements. In 1897, his first personal exhibition in Brussels confirmed his recognition. A stay in Algeria in 1897 -1898 transformed his palette: markets, sun and clothing introduced more frank pinks, blues, whites and ochres. In 1897, his first personal exhibition in Brussels confirmed his recognition. A stay in Algeria in 1897 -1898 transformed his palette: markets, sun and clothing introduced more frank pinks, blues, whites and ochres. In 1897, his first personal exhibition in Brussels confirmed his recognition. A stay in Algeria in 1897 -1898 transformed his palette: markets, sun and clothing introduced more frank pinks, blues, whites and ochres. In 1897, his first personal exhibition in Brussels confirmed his recognition. A stay in Algeria in 1897 -1898 transformed his palette: markets, sun and clothing introduced more frank pinks, blues, whites and ochres. bold color with the dark presence of the model and announces Fauvism. Evenepoel then planned to return to Belgium, but he died suddenly of typhoid fever in Paris in December 1899, at the age of twenty-seven. In just a few years, he built a work where portrait, photography, crowd and color defined a deeply personal modernity. In just a few years, he constructed a work where portrait, photography, crowd and color defined a profoundly personal modernity. The "Henri Evenepoel" selection notably compares Dimanche au Bois de Boulogne and Au square. His reading favors composition.

Evenepoel captures modern life without dissolving it into anecdote: a silhouette, a hat or an interval in the crowd is enough to reveal the solitude and tenderness of each presence.