Early 20th C, Brabant Fauvism, Farming Family on a Sunday Morning, Oil on Canvas

The Namur painter and engraver, Louis Decoeur (1884-1960) became a member of “L’Effort” around 1910. This artist’s association provided a free studio for painters in Brussels, on the first floor of a building located at Quai au Bois à Brûler number 31. Here innovative artists who were not appreciated by the official salons were given a forum. The members of “L’Effort” opposed academism. Some names of artists who have worked in the studio spaces of "L'Effort" are: Jean Brusselmans, Henri Ramah, Ferdinand Schirren, Louis Thévenet and Rik Wouters. Many painters who came together at the Quai au Bois à Brûler formed a group of Brabant fauvists. Just like the fauvists, Decoeur paints clearly defined areas of color. In this work he uses the cloisonné style in which he outlines his shapes with noticeable black contours. The synthesis or simplification of the forms and the contours of these forms certainly recall the canvases from Gauguin’s Breton period. The winding path gives breathing space and depth to the canvas. The white pigeons also draw the viewer’s eye into the depths.