Het kind met de groene mouwen, 1926

A baby stares at the viewer with such a cool, distant gaze as if, at such a young age, it is already uninterested or perhaps melancholic. The background is abstracted, and we don’t know whose baby it is. The title refers to the green sleeves of the baby’s dress, but even the green brushstrokes are so sparingly applied that this sartorial detail is not noticeable. The babies and adolescents he portrayed reveal little of their emotional state, except through their eyes and gaze. The soft color tones used also enhance this introverted expression. There is no ecstasy, sorrow, or love, but rather a kind of ineffable melancholy that we don’t immediately expect in children but rather in a reserved, uncertain person who has learned to endure their fate. Perhaps someone like Daeye himself?

• This work is part of the museum’s main collection. It was included in the inventory of the donation from Jules and Irma Dhondt-Dhaenens that was compiled at the board meeting on 03.06.1967.