Jef Verheyen

The Belgian ZERO artist Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) became known as the painter of light streams and colour spectra. He experimented not only with light, but also with movement and the invisible as means to evoke natural mechanisms and to reveal universal interrelationships between human beings and the surrounding world. He used geometric principles – his passion for geometry was born out of his interest in mathematics and (Greek) philosophy – as the basis for harmony. Verheyen never gave up on traditional media and materials such as the canvas, paint, and brushes to search for the essence of our nature.

Jef Verheyen

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(c)Jef Verheyen, photo: Christie's Paris, 2021 - Jef Verheyen Archive

• 0034 • Untitled, 1958

Private

Painting , 40 x 50 cm

Oil paint on masonite (wooden hardboard)

Dedicated to Pietro Berti

Colonel Pietro Berti was a flight instructor of the Milano Aeroclub during the 1950s. During that time he was also teacher of the artist Roberto Crippa.

Ca.1958 Pietro Berti has received the work directly from Jef Verheyen in the studio of Lucio Fontana, Milan, in presence of Roberto Crippa. The painting has been locked in a trunk for a long time.

Historical context
1957-1958 Roberto Crippa & Lucio Fontana

Jef Verheyen has met Lucio Fontana and Roberto Crippa in 1957, during an opening at Galleria Pater. One year later, in 1958, Roberto Crippa is in Belgium for the World’s Fair (April). At Verheyen’s and Ivo Michiels’ request, he places a sculpture in the Belgian pavilion. In 1959, the Fifth Middelheim Biennial in Antwerp has included work by a.o. Lucio Fontana, Roberto Crippa and Olivier Strebelle.

Jef Verheyen's letter to Jean F. Buyck, 17 March 1980

[...] Intussen werkte ik aan mijn schilderijen voor de tentoonstelling die bij Pater, Milaan zou plaats hebben op 6 November 1958. Er waren donkere schilderijen bij met een boog, waaruit einde 1958 mijn rode schilderijen ontstonden. [...]

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