Look, look and draw. Eugeen Van Mieghem as a passionate reporter

In the exhibition Eugeen Van Mieghem: City in motion, KMSKA curator Cathérine Verleysen and guest curator Eric Rinckhout focus on the drawings and pastels of the Antwerp artist. These works reveal the passionate chronicler of the harsh realities of daily life at his sharpest. A dual interview.

By Frank Heirman

On October 1, it marked exactly 150 years since Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875–1930) was born on the Scheldt Quays in Antwerp. Last year, the Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation donated 226 of the artist’s works to the KMSKA. There is also the compelling biography that Eric Rinckhout completed after years of research. But even without these milestones, Van Mieghem deserves this tribute. Although he lived and worked in Antwerp his entire life, he had never before had a solo exhibition at the city’s principal art temple.

Cathérine Verleysen: “We are indeed presenting the first monographic exhibition now, but the museum has long had a historical connection with the artist, as with many Antwerp artists. As early as 1923, the KMSKA purchased the monumental painting Women at the Port, which was then shown at the Triennial Salon. Van Mieghem also participated in many events organized by Kunst van Heden. These did not take place in the museum itself, but the organizers were patrons of the KMSKA. Works by Van Mieghem were also included in postwar group exhibitions, such as Antwerpen 1900, Nood zoekt brood, and In dienst van de kunst.”

Eric Rinckhout: “Initially, we intended to present Van Mieghem in comparison with a few contemporaries. But Cathérine suggested focusing on Van Mieghem himself and his works on paper. His pastels and drawings—more than his paintings and etchings—are full of dynamism and reveal his quick, nervous working method. We selected sixty works and a handful of sketchbooks that, in our view, illustrate his approach perfectly. That is only a fraction of his oeuvre, which we cautiously estimate at around 5,000 drawings and 1,000 pastels and paintings.”

Was Van Mieghem a workaholic?

Cathérine: “That high number also shows his drive and his quick way of observing. Day after day, he immersed himself in the ever-changing daily life of the city of Antwerp. Whatever he saw, he wanted to capture immediately in a snapshot—unvarnished, sometimes intense, and generally socially aware.”

Eric: “Van Mieghem was a contemporary and a rival of street photographers. As far as we know, he didn’t own a camera. With his sketchbook and pencil, he made snapshots. He could do it almost as quickly as a photographer, because photography at the time was a much slower medium than it is today. He always had a sketchbook on hand, sometimes tiny and humble. He made them himself from recycled paper that he stitched together.”

In recent decades, exhibitions have mainly focused on thematic displays, with the port and migrants as central subjects. Was that also your approach?

Eric: “Although those subjects are addressed, we didn’t start from themes. Our guiding principle is the depiction of dynamism. That gives a fresh perspective. In the exhibition, we show only pastels, drawings, and works in mixed media. That’s how he expressed life most powerfully, both in its harshest moments and in moments of celebration. Oil paint dries more slowly, which suited him less. With pastels, he could work faster.”

Cathérine: “Around the turn of the century, pastel was a popular medium among Symbolists, such as Léon Spilliaert, William Degouve de Nuncques, or Fernand Khnopff. For them, pastel had something spiritual and misty. Van Mieghem uses pastel completely differently, more like the Impressionists painted. The fluidity and energy are present in his pastels, similar to Edgar Degas or Armand Guillaumin, whose works he saw at the La Libre Esthétique salons in Brussels.”

Van Mieghem witnessed modern society advancing at a rapid pace. Yet he never formally embraced modernism?

Cathérine: “He was certainly in step with his time. Evolution is present in what he observed around him. He grew up in a city that was changing incredibly fast. His birthplace on the quays was demolished during the straightening of the Scheldt. He saw the ships and machines in the port becoming ever more powerful while the workers seemed smaller and smaller. But his social themes go much further: they reflect a social sensitivity he shared with his contemporaries.”

Eric: “Technically, there is evolution in his oeuvre. He was not a prodigy, and his early drawings sometimes appear awkward. In his first year at the academy, he was top of the class, but his grades declined afterward. Likely, his work increasingly diverged from the academic style his teachers expected. He was searching for his own path. At the end of the 19th century, his work carries a sense of melancholy. He read Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther and made self-portraits, which he hardly ever did later, except as brief cameos. Then he turned his gaze resolutely outward and began drawing what he saw before his eyes.”

What influences can be seen in his work?

Eric: “Van Mieghem grew up in a city that was very conservative in taste but artistically active. For the young Van Mieghem, Henry Van de Velde and his participation in the art group De Scalden were crucial. While Van Mieghem was studying at the academy, Van de Velde organized groundbreaking exhibitions in the academy buildings with his Association pour l’Art. Van Mieghem saw pen drawings by Vincent van Gogh and posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec there. Even before he was expelled from the academy, he joined De Scalden. This association is sometimes dismissed as a group of carnivalists, but they were important promoters of applied arts. Initially, Van Mieghem tried to balance both paths, but eventually he chose to become the passionate reporter of his time.”

Cathérine: “In his compositions, he likes to place a human figure in the foreground and a landscape or scene in the background. He was influenced in this by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen and Edvard Munch.”

Can a peak moment in his career be identified?

Eric: “1912 was a high point. Van Mieghem had his first solo exhibition at the Kunstverbond, now the Arenberg Theatre, which was a success. Not too early, since he was already 37. From that period, the Museum Plantin-Moretus preserves several large pastels depicting port scenes. These are overwhelming panoramas, with toiling dockworkers and sometimes migrants woven in. All of his themes are present.”

Cathérine: “The execution sparkles with life. They are done on fine, expensive paper, which was exceptional for Van Mieghem, who usually reused every scrap. They seem to form a series, possibly a commission. Several smaller works can be connected to them as preparatory sketches.”

Is the image of Van Mieghem as a poor and unrecognized artist accurate?

Eric: “There were certainly moments when he struggled. 1920 was a turning point. He then obtained a position at the Antwerp Academy, and the market for his paintings was growing. That also had a downside. He repeated themes that appealed to buyers and increasingly worked on large-scale oil paintings. The sharpness faded, and unfortunately, some of the edge went out of his work. Apart from that, there are still surprises in his later oeuvre. For example, he experimented with monotypes, a technique that suited him well.”

Cathérine: “Van Mieghem’s work was shown at Belgian exhibitions abroad and even ended up in museums such as those in Budapest and Belgrade. Even after his death, there were still sales. It was only after World War II that he, like many of his generation, disappeared from view, until the ever-dedicated Erwin Joos, with his Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation and later the museum, turned the tide.”

A long-awaited biography is being published alongside this exhibition. Eric, you spent years researching it. Was it a difficult quest?

Eric: “Van Mieghem had a few artist friends he visited at cafés, but there was no one with whom he fully confided. Only in his final years, when he was sickly and confined to his home, do we have letters in which he opened up completely. My main sources were his drawings, which I consider as diaries. They tell the story of his life.”

His character seems difficult to fathom.

Eric: “He was well-read and fluent in two languages. I perceive him as a nervous or agitated man. I haven’t found any medical reports about him, but his health declined over time, and he underwent treatments in sanatoriums or centers for nervous illnesses. Did he have tuberculosis, like his first wife Augustine Pautre? Perhaps. In one letter, he complained about difficulties with his motor skills, which could indicate Parkinson’s.”

Cathérine: “In his art, Van Mieghem was an observer and a chronicler. He was not particularly concerned with the psyche itself.”

When is this exhibition a success for you?

Eric: “We often selected works that are rarely shown, from the donation of the Van Mieghem Foundation to the KMSKA, from various private collections—thanks to Erwin Joos—and from the vast collection of the Print Room at the Museum Plantin-Moretus. We want to give as broad and varied a picture as possible of what fascinated Van Mieghem: elegant entertainment on the De Keyserlei and in the theaters alongside the harsh life in the port, portraits of his sick wife alongside atmospheric cityscapes. Hopefully, this will appeal to a young and international audience.”

Cathérine: “Although his works are often small in size, there is so much to see. In terms of technical execution, they are often complex as well. In his work, we experience a society in motion, in all its facets. We want to share that viewing pleasure as fully as possible.”