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

(c)Jef Verheyen, photo: De Vuyst - Jef Verheyen Archive
• 0775 • Untitled (Ruiter), 1955
Painting , 100 x 124 cm
Oil paint on burlap

This work may be seen as influenced by the work of Pablo Picasso, that Verheyen encounters in 1952 (hence date in his notebook).

There are strong similarities between Verheyen's horseman and the bull studies of Picasso.