The Staircase, ca. 1896

The Stairs by Eugène Laermans (1864-1940), shows in an almost documentary-realistic way the poverty and barrenness of an average working-class house at the end of the nineteenth century. A simple staircase between two whitewashed walls leads the eye to an indefinable, dark space. A few sparse vertical light accents create a second rectangle within the painting, parallel to the picture plane. Behind it, a dark hole gapes. This house offers no warmth or security; the drab colours and the austere, almost geometric construction reinforce the ominous character of the space. The clogs, as the only traces of human presence, reinforce the uneasy feeling of loneliness. The deserted stairwell with a few desolate objects in the twilight is a motif that can also be found in the work of the symbolist artist Xavier Mellery. Perhaps the desolate atmosphere in The Staircase can also be related to the psychological isolation in which Eugène Laermans himself found himself. After all, he has had difficulty communicating with others since he became deaf at the age of eleven.