Van Rysselberghe Théo

Biography of Van Rysselberghe Théo ( 1862-1926 )

Born in Ghent on 23 November 1862 and died in Saint-Clair (Le Lavandou) on 13 December 1926, Théo van Rysselberghe was a bridge builder in the most demanding sense of the term, capable of creating a dialogue between the Parisian avant-garde and the effervescence of Belgium, the science of colour and the art of portraiture, the experience of travel and the rigour of modern construction. 

Trained in the Belgian academic context (notably under Jean-François Portaels, who was attentive to Orientalist subjects), Van Rysselberghe distinguished himself early on through an intellectual and visual curiosity that was nourished by his travels. His stays in Spain and especially Morocco, repeated from the 1880s onwards, were not merely picturesque: he sought an experience of light, an intensification of values and contrasts, which would have a lasting influence on his painting. 

This ambition found a decisive framework when, in 1883, he participated in the founding of the Brussels group Les XX (The Twenty), an avant-garde society dedicated to introducing and discussing the most contemporary art in a Belgium still dominated by academicism. The exhibitions of Les XX – and then, from 1894 onwards, those of La Libre Esthétique – acted as a sounding board, placing Van Rysselberghe at the heart of a European network where works, ideas and artists circulated. 

The major turning point came when he encountered Neo-Impressionist research. His discovery of the principles pioneered by Seurat and taken up by Signac (division of tones, optical vibration, construction using regular brushstrokes) led him to gradually convert from the late 1880s onwards. Unusually, Van Rysselberghe applied this “method” not only to landscape painting but also, with exceptional authority, to portraiture – a field in which the decorative temptation of pointillism could easily dissolve the human presence. In his work, on the contrary, colour analysis serves psychology: modelling arises from juxtaposition, skin tone becomes a luminous field, and the individual is placed in an almost musical atmosphere. This ability to combine accuracy of vision with modernity of pictorial style explains the importance of his portraits in the history of fin-de-siècle portraiture.

His work thus spans several areas. On the one hand, intellectual and literary life: Van Rysselberghe frequented Symbolist circles, and his portraiture was in keeping with an era that saw the face as a place of inner truth. On the other, he paid increasing attention to large decorative ensembles and the revival of the applied arts, in keeping with the Art Nouveau spirit and the very modern idea of painting that could embrace space, society and everyday life. 

Around 1905, as strict Divisionism softened throughout Europe, he gradually moved away from the most regular punctuation, without renouncing the fundamental principle: the primacy of colour as structure. Settling on the Mediterranean coast, he found in the landscapes of the South a luminous material that extended, in a different way, the lessons learned in Morocco: clarity, sparkle, and breathing space. 

 In terms of the market and the history of taste, Van Rysselberghe now embodies a precious combination: that of a painter who is both immediately appealing – through the brilliance, finesse and sensuality of his touch – and historically significant, because he helped to make Neo-Impressionism a European language, while giving it one of its most difficult territories: portraiture.