Gust De Smet

Gustave Franciscus De Smet (21 January 1877 – 8 October 1943) was a Belgian painter. Together with Constant Permeke and Frits Van den Berghe, he was one of the founders of Flemish Expressionism. His younger brother, , also became a painter.

Biography

He was born in Ghent. His father, Jules, was a set decorator and photographer. Both Gustave and his brother began working in their father's studio, then attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where they studied under Jean Delvin.Brief biography
from ''Dictionnaire des peintres belges'' @ Belgian Art Links. Unlike Léon, Gustave was considered to be an indifferent student.

In 1908, he and his wife followed Léon to the artists' colony in Sint-Martens-Latem. There, they initially came under the influence of Luminism and the painter Emile Claus, who lived in nearby Astene. At the beginning of World War I, he and his family joined his friend, Van den Berghe, and fled to the Netherlands. Here, he discovered Expressionism. From 1914 to 1922, they moved about, visiting and staying at the art colonies in Amsterdam, Laren and Blaricum. His meeting with the Expressionist painter Henri Le Fauconnier marked a turning point in his style which, up until then, owed much to Cubism.Biographical notes
@ the De Valk Lexicon kunstenaars Laren-Blaricum.

He returned to Belgium in 1922, but continued to move frequently, usually in the company of his friends Van den Berghe and Permeke, beginning in Ostend, then to Bachte-Maria-Leerne and Afsnee, where he lived in a villa provided by the art promoter and journalist, Paul-Gustave van Hecke. In 1927, he finally settled in Deurle.

It was there that his mixture of Expressionism and Cubism peaked, with a series of works depicting circus, fairground and village scenes. After his death in Deurle at the age of sixty-six, his house was preserved as a local museum.

Selected paintings

De kunstenaar en zijn vrouw bij maanlicht, Gustave De Smet, 1927, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 1956-AR.jpg, The Artist and His Wife
DeSmet-Gallery.jpg, The Great Shooting Gallery
DeSmet-Bottle.jpg, The Man with
the Bottle
Gust De Smet De jonge kapitein 1927 001.JPG, The Young Captain
Eenden aan de Leie - Gustave De Smet - Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek mudel - 0525-SME.g1.jpg, Ducks on the Leie Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek
Slaapkamer - het groene bed - Gustave De Smet - Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek mudel - 0526-SME.g2.jpg, Bedroom-the green bed Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek
Meisje met hoed - Gustave De Smet - Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek mudel - 0529-SME.g5.jpg, Girl with hat Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek

Public collections

Among the public collections holding works by Gustave De Smet are:

* Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
* Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
* The Hague, Kunstmuseum Den Haag
* Deinze, Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek
* Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum
* Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts
* Ostend, Mu.ZEE
* Venlo, Museum van Bommel van Dam
* Zwolle, Museum De FundatieDigitale Collectie Nederland
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References

Further reading

*Piet Boyens, ''Gust. De Smet. Kroniek – Kunsthistorische analyse'', Fonds Mercator, 1989

External links

ArtNet: More works by De Smet.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smet, Gustave De
Belgian Expressionist painters
1877 births
1943 deaths
20th-century Belgian painters
Belgian cubist artists
Painters from Ghent