DOI Heft:
No. 66 (September, 1898)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: A painter of dead cities: M. Albert Baertsoen
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21969#0266
Albert Baertsoen
this Rue ensoleillee, a Bruges; En Ville Morte, le
soir, and the Vieux quai en Novembre, which
figured in this year’s Salon, and is marvellously
characteristic of M. Baertsoen’s grey manner, just
as the Petite place, le soir, is a perfect example of his
lighter key. The Vieux quai is an exquisite har-
mony of dead colour, dull tone, and dim tint, realis-
ing all the sad intensity of dying autumn. An air
of deep gloom hangs over the damp landscape,
illumined by a grey sky with the sinking sun
beyond. The only touch of animation in the deso-
late scene is afforded by the shadows thrown upon
the greenish waters of the canal.
M. Baertsoen obtains effects of this sort with
rare perfection, and one scarcely knows whether to
admire more the painter’s art or the exquisitely
refined and poetic sentiment dominating it. One
must needs delight in them both equally, for they
are inseparable, and never degenerate into a mere
“manner.” While on this point I am anxious to
make it clear that M. Baertsoen has always kept
clear of all slavish adherence to any particular
style; for he is too impressionable to allow himself
to be ruled by any sort of conventionality. He
might very well, seeing the success achieved by
any one of his methods, have been content to
devote himself to some special type of production,
to the exclusion of all others, as so many of his
fellow-artists have done, for fear of losing public
favour. He must therefore be heartily com-
mended for having avoided so obvious and so
tempting a snare. M. Baertsoen is ever striving
to correct and to develop his powers, to enlarge
and simplify his vision, by ridding himself more
and more of all that might lead him into any
fixed groove. Those who have studied his work
during the last seven or eight years are fully
aware of this fact. And now they have the satis-
faction of seeing in full expansion a true artistic
personality, a fine virile sensibility, under complete
“PETITE COUR, FLANDRE”
FROM A PAINTING BY ALBERT BAERTSOEN
this Rue ensoleillee, a Bruges; En Ville Morte, le
soir, and the Vieux quai en Novembre, which
figured in this year’s Salon, and is marvellously
characteristic of M. Baertsoen’s grey manner, just
as the Petite place, le soir, is a perfect example of his
lighter key. The Vieux quai is an exquisite har-
mony of dead colour, dull tone, and dim tint, realis-
ing all the sad intensity of dying autumn. An air
of deep gloom hangs over the damp landscape,
illumined by a grey sky with the sinking sun
beyond. The only touch of animation in the deso-
late scene is afforded by the shadows thrown upon
the greenish waters of the canal.
M. Baertsoen obtains effects of this sort with
rare perfection, and one scarcely knows whether to
admire more the painter’s art or the exquisitely
refined and poetic sentiment dominating it. One
must needs delight in them both equally, for they
are inseparable, and never degenerate into a mere
“manner.” While on this point I am anxious to
make it clear that M. Baertsoen has always kept
clear of all slavish adherence to any particular
style; for he is too impressionable to allow himself
to be ruled by any sort of conventionality. He
might very well, seeing the success achieved by
any one of his methods, have been content to
devote himself to some special type of production,
to the exclusion of all others, as so many of his
fellow-artists have done, for fear of losing public
favour. He must therefore be heartily com-
mended for having avoided so obvious and so
tempting a snare. M. Baertsoen is ever striving
to correct and to develop his powers, to enlarge
and simplify his vision, by ridding himself more
and more of all that might lead him into any
fixed groove. Those who have studied his work
during the last seven or eight years are fully
aware of this fact. And now they have the satis-
faction of seeing in full expansion a true artistic
personality, a fine virile sensibility, under complete
“PETITE COUR, FLANDRE”
FROM A PAINTING BY ALBERT BAERTSOEN