The Man in the Clouds

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels (Belgium).

Paintings of Berghe after 1925 received a new form and new content. Evolution, rise and fall, the world of the subconscious, instead of reality, became central concepts in his work. The artist arranged iconic objects (fruits, the sea with a naked female torso without a head, arms and legs, a rose) as he reached the next flat and soft cloud. Perhaps a man (a middle-aged intellectual) fulfills his dreams only virtually but continues to climb into the void. At the same time, the person, his face and especially his raised hands, were depicted quite realistically.