Jaargetijden – het dwalen van kijken

The first off-site presentation during MDD‘s renovation brings together the work of Jacques Boussard, Jean Brusselmans and Bertrand Fournier. Three painters of different generations portray, each in their own way, the landscape, the environment and the passing of the seasons.

The presentation evolved from a dialogue between Bertrand Fournier and Jan(us) Boudewijns, MDD‘s collection manager. By juxtaposing works from MDD’s collection, private collections and contemporary art, the exhibition realises one of the aims of the Stichting Mevrouw Jules Dhondt-Dhaenens, namely to connect historical and contemporary art, as well as public and private collections.

The starting point is the painting Midzomer (Kiemende aarde) (1935) by Jean Brusselmans (1884 - 1953) from a private collection (the former Tony Herbert collection), which depicts a farm landscape in full sunlight. Winter in Dilbeek (1945), a work by Brusselmans from the collection of Jules and Irma Dhondt-Dhaenens, contrasts with its winter scene but is characterised by the same simple pictorial construction.

Just like Brusselmans, the French painter Bertrand Fournier is inspired by his everyday surroundings: from landscapes, the dishwasher, mushrooms to walking his dog. Fournier, in turn, has used the work of Jacques Boussard (1915 — 1989) as a source of inspiration. The exhibition, therefore, includes two paintings by Boussard: Lardy, printemps (1962) and Le jardin (1970) as a complement to the two works by Brusselmans.