Lot 500 D

Constant Permeke is considered one of the most important representatives of Flemish Expressionism. In his native country the artist's work achieved extensive recognition even during his own lifetime. In 1934, at the latest, he gained international attention through his first appearance at the Venice Biennale. Permeke was not only dynamically and impulsively poetic, he was also an intelligent observer. Psychologist and mystic alike, in his works he constructed a parallel, highly subjective reality out of his experiences. The deeply dark landscapes of the 1920s are among the most radical works of his oeuvre, and it is not only with regard to their subject that they are sometimes reminiscent of the young van Gogh.
Permeke's landscape with a farmer couple does not depict a rural idyll. Instead, with an Existentialist gesture, it points to the crude and archaic life of the countryside. The palette is muted and the brushstroke possesses a palpable vehemence; at the same time, the light blossoms of the tree dabbed in an expressive manner at the right edge of the painting are able to subtly rupture the gravity of the image. Aside from this, the richly nuanced use of brown and black tones seems to extinguish every bit of light from the painting. On the other hand, the work develops a deeply penetrating presence through its emphasis on the materiality of the paint.