This is a particularly interesting painting by Belgian artist Edmond de Meulenaere.
De Meulenaere was born in Brussels in 1884 and studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. He became particularly known for his landscapes, painting the countryside around Brussels and working with increasingly broad, expressive passages of colour.
It was the paint rather than the artist's name that made me buy this one.
Dark tree trunks cut dramatically through the composition, while the landscape behind them is constructed from wonderful passages of green, grey, pink and black. The paint is dragged, scraped and layered across the surface, with areas of heavy impasto sitting alongside passages where the ground almost shows through.
From across the room it is unmistakably a landscape. Get close and parts of it become almost completely abstract.
Having looked at a considerable number of De Meulenaere's other paintings, I find this one particularly interesting. It feels less conventional and more experimental than many of his recorded landscapes, with the paint itself becoming as important as the subject.
Signed lower right.
Oil on board
Max Width - 70cm / 27.5”
Max Height - 60.5cm / 23.75”
The painting itself presents well, with a wonderfully textured and varied surface.
The period frame has considerable historic chipping and losses and has been extensively touched in over time. This is reflected in the price and we have left it exactly as found. Please study the photographs carefully.
