Luc Tuymans

Art opened a door into freedom for Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans was born in Mortsel in Belgium in 1958 and spent his childhood in Amsterdam. In the early years, the artist found the familial conflicts, which stemmed from differing positions during the Second World War, formative: While his mother’s family had fought in the resistance, his father’s family had been on the side of the National Socialists. In addition, he was vilified and physically assaulted during his school years by his fellow students and Luc Tuymans fled from these external abuses into his own world and turned to art. In order to pursue this career path, he first studied fine arts from 1976 to 1982 and then art history until 1986. He created his first independent artistic works in the 1980s, making it clear even than that he was not prepared to adhere to the prevailing trends, and contrary to all the conventions of the time, Tuymans dedicated himself deliberately to figurative representation. 

Conscious questioning of traditional perspectives

Luc Tuymans demonstrated a pronounced sense of aesthetics even in his early work and was able to enthrall with his expressive visual language. In addition to the almost anachronistic adherence to figurative content, a reduced use of colour and immediacy of rendering are characteristic. Tuymans pictures approach very different events from history and current daily politics and deal with what seems important to him and, through his interpretations, question the authenticity of the visual media and their delivery. By skillfully shifting the perspective, Luc Tuymans still succeeds today in setting the intrinsically familiar in a new context and placing supposed certainties to the test. In doing so, he makes stylistic use of established genres, paints landscapes, interiors, scenes and portraits – and yet he always manages to set his own accents and to surprise with creative ideas and cross-references. There is often a mysterious unrest in his pictures that cannot be assigned at first glance – and sometimes not even after a second look. 

With heavy fare to a celebrated star of the art scene

Luc Tuymans does not shy away from large and difficult themes in his work. The object of his early work was the Holocaust and he later looked at colonial power in the Congo and the World Trade Center terror attacks. Luc Tuymans has received prizes and awards for his work including the Leopoldsorden from his homeland of Belgium in 2007. He presented his work in the Belgian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2001 and has participated twice in Documenta in Kassel. With these highly acclaimed appearances, Tuymans has finally established himself as one the most sought-after artists of his generation, inspiring younger painters such as Eberhard Havekost and Wilhelm Sasnal. Tuymans has been a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts since May 2018. 

Luc Tuymans lives and works in Antwerp.