Painting with air
A round, morning-blue painting is set in a square, monochrome box frame. As a total artwork, this is a modernist portrait of (morning) light—one that not only bathes in subtle color nuances and tonalities but also draws from rich Western and Eastern cultural traditions. Jef Verheyen (1932–1984) studied and combined these traditions.
The Idea of ‘Light’
The shape of the painting evokes an oculus but also a tondo: a circular painting. Italian Renaissance artists were particularly known for creating beautiful examples of these.
The circle and the square are fundamental forms in Western geometric abstract art. That is why Morning perfectly illustrates that Verheyen is a follower of the paradigm shift that modern artists made in the first quarter of the twentieth century: from seeing to thinking. From a ‘physioplastic’ to an ‘ideoplastic’ vision, as expressed by the poet Paul van Ostaijen, whom Verheyen admired.
This means that Verheyen, also known as a ‘painter of light,’ treads less familiar paths than other modern masters with the same title. Unlike, for example, James Ensor or Claude Monet, Verheyen is less interested in a naturalistic depiction of observable light. Instead, his painterly interest lies in the sublimated representation of the idea of ‘light.’
Verheyen places the sublime in the tradition of Caspar David Friedrich’s famous Wanderer above the Mists. But as a conceptual painter, he works consistently in his studio, dreaming of light and thin air through ultra-thin, almost glazed layers of paint. It is almost “as if he paints with air,” according to the abstract painter Serge Poliakoff in the 1960s.
Mind-Expanding
Verheyen also shares something with a Zen Buddhist or Taoist monk who attributes spiritual dimensions not only to painting itself but also to looking at a painting. In the ancient Taoist meditative traditions, staring into the void—or infinite depths—of monochrome (landscape) paintings is considered a radically calming, mind-expanding experience. The literal ‘pausing’ before open, pictorial spaces is seen as a path to inner awareness. As a way to glimpse the intangible energy flows of life.
The dialogue between the circle and the square is an essential part of this. The square represents the earthly, the stable, and the rational. The circle, on the other hand, symbolizes the heavenly, the infinite, and the spiritual.
In search of balance and inner growth, life is about a harmonious dialogue between the two. Verheyen understood this well and wonderfully attempted to capture it visually.
This article previously appeared in ZAAL Z, the museum's magazine. For just €35, you’ll receive four issues that immerse you in the museum’s fascinating world and exceptional collection.
