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 - Window on Infinity

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©Collectie KMSKA – Vlaamse Gemeenschap (public domain), Rik Klein Gotink

De verzoeking van de heilige Antonius, 1927

Collection KMSKA, Antwerp

Painting , 58.6 x 68.6 cm

Panchromy refers to the intensity or temperature

of colour. Monet was not the only one to have a

keen eye for this, so too did James Ensor. In the

later phase of his career, this Ostend master

seeks to capture the fleeting essence of the light

in his beloved home city on canvas. He paints the

iridescence of its salty air and the mother of pearl

on the inside of seashells. Ensor and Verheyen

both start from white and soft bright colours,

from the purity of light.

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