Henri Evenepoel

Henri Jacques Edouard Evenepoel was a Belgian and French painter, engraver and draftsman.

During his short creative career, Henri Evenepoel created the vast majority of works in a style that later was called Fauvism. Worked in the genre of portrait, including nude, created interiors, storyboards and posters. Was one of the first to actively and creatively use the photo to create original works of art. Both the paintings and drawings of the artist are in the collections of the best galleries and museums in Europe.

Key ideas:

– Most paintings of Henri Jacques Edouard Evenepoel are portraits of his family members and friends. Expressing the characteristic features of the personality, the artist conveys his attitude towards the depicted ones, emphasizing either tenderness, for example, in the portrait of his son “Charles in a striped jumper”, in the portrait of his beloved cousin Louise, or his admiration of nature, for example, in the canvas “Nude woman”. In the works of such theme, there are more chromatic and quiet and even muted chords of colors and light.

– Other favorite genres are interiors of the artist are interiors (“A room of an artist”), plot pictures featuring fairs and celebrations. In these works, the artist uses controllably bright colours to simplify the space. The key idea, according to the artist himself, is “to display everything conceived on the surface, that is, not to take the viewer’s eyes into the depth of the canvas”.

– Since 1897, using a portable photographic device “Kodak”, the artist often replaces sketches with photos. Looking at the print, Henri, for example, creates “Self-portrait in a tripartite mirror” (1898). Spending summer months in the Belgian village in a family circle, Evenepoel also experimented with photo, calling his pocket device “a real gem”. Pictures made in Algeria helped Henri create several color canvases on the eastern theme.

– Actively creating posters, making lithographs and etching, Evenepoel rarely builds compositions without people. Thus, he develops his favourite genre of portrait in graphics.

– In general, the artist preferred the synthesis of forms of different techniques, applying a subtle gradation of tones, bold color combinations and sweeping and energetic strokes.