Constant Permeke against the light

The exhibition offers a surprising look at some 30 eye-catching artworks by Constant Permeke, confirming his diversity and groundbreaking nature. It invites visitors to approach Permeke's art from new insights. Exceptional loans were allowed for this exhibition from private collections and (inter)national museums. It is the first exhibition at the reopening of the Permeke Museum after a thorough renovation.

We know Constant Permeke mainly as a central figure of Flemish expressionism. Yet he was rather a maverick. The choice of the term Flemish expressionism was rather a promotional move by the Brussels gallery Sélection in the 1920s. Constant Permeke chose an idiosyncratic trajectory on the fringes of cubism, expressionism and humanism. He painted his everyday reality: undisguised, animated portraits of his family, people from his surroundings, everyday events, tender motherhood, landscapes and seascapes. His focus was on deeply human themes, on the connection of people among themselves and with nature. But above all, he was concerned with the play and process in creating, the search and experimentation, the constant decision to continue or let go. He chose to take risks and push boundaries when choosing his techniques, materials and formats that he brought together as collages. Averse to taboos and restrictions, fully in tune with modernism, Constant Permeke sought how to wallow or break through academism, how to reinvent drawing, painting and sculpture again and again.

The residence offers a permanent presentation in which Permeke's work and life are situated in a contemporary way. The newly laid-out ecological garden - where there is room for continuous experimentation and evolution - reflects Permeke's pioneering and innovative character.