In his memoires, entitled Karel en ik [Karel (his brother) and myself], Gustave Van de Woestyne described the peasant portrayed here as ‘a little man’ who came to work in their garden every evening. ‘One couldn’t bear to watch what he did, only listen to what he said.’ And this is how Van de Woestyne painted him, busy telling his story with an animated expression on his face. The style in which his head is painted is reminiscent of the farmer’s heads by Peter Bruegel the Elder. On the back of the painting Van de Woestyne wrote a second title, The Answer. In this way he probably wanted to give the painting a more profound meaning. After all, it was in the simplicity of rural life that the artist found the answer to the existential questions he himself was struggling with.
| Artist |
Gustave Van de Woestyne
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Farmer (or The Answer) |
| Date | 1911 |
| Period | 20th century |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year bottom right: G.VAN DE / WOESTYNE / 1911 |
| title, year and monogram on the reverse: LA REPONSE. / anno 1911. G.V.D.W. | |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1948-AC |
| Acquisition credit |
gift
De Smet, Jean (coll.) 1948 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on loan |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1948-AC |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/1649/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300189808
figures (representations)
AAT
300055865 symbolism (artistic concept) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
25I3
farm or solitary house in landscape
Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31B6213 looking sideways Iconclass 31B6232 mouth slightly open Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 41A17 farm (building) Iconclass 41D221(CAP) head-gear: cap Iconclass 46A14 farmers Iconclass 46A222 rural life Iconclass 480 symbolic representations, allegories and emblems ~ art; 'Arte' (Ripa) Iconclass 52E1 Response, Answer, Solution Iconclass 61E(LAETHEM-SAINT-MARTIN) names of cities and villages (LAETHEM-SAINT-MARTIN) Iconclass |
| School / Style |
Symbolism (artistic concept)
AAT
Sint-Martens-Latem |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. II, p. 364-365 (ill.)) |
| Gustave Van de Woestyne (tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 27 maart - 27 juni 2010) / Robert Hoozee, Cathérine Verleysen, Piet Boyens, Marc Somers, Huguette Van de Woestyne-Vanagt. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2010 ; Brussel : Mercatorfonds, 2010 (nr. 39) |
| Nervia / Sint-Martens-Latem : Koppelteken = Nervia / Laethem-Saint-Martin : Traits d'union (tentoonstelling Elsene (Brussel), Museum van Elsene, 22.10.2015 - 17.01.2016) / Françoise Eeckman, Cathérine Verleysen, Michel De Reymaeker, Françoise Osteaux. - Bruxelles : Editions Racine, 2015 (p. 139) |
| Belgische schone : Ensor tot Magritte ; Hoogtepunten uit de verzameling van het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (tentoonstelling Laren, Singer Laren, 16.06 - 30.08.2015) / Johan De Smet, Jan Rudolph De Lorm. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2015 ; Laren : Singer Laren, 2015 ; Heule : Uitgeverij Snoeck, 2015 (cat. 33 (ill. p. 54)) |
| Feast of Fools : Bruegel herontdekt = Bruegel rediscovered (tentoonstelling Gaasbeek, Kasteel van Gaasbeek, 07.04.2019 - 28.07.2019) / Hans Devisscher, Marieke Debeuckelaere, Leen Huet, Luc Vanackere, Peter Verhelst, Luk Lambrecht, Lieze Eneman. - Gaasbeek : Kasteel van Gaasbeek, 2019 ; Gent : Snoeck, 2019 (p. 63) |
| Symbolisme in Vlaanderen : De eerste generatie kunstenaars in Sint-Martens-Latem (tentoonstelling 's-Hertogenbosch, Het Noordbrabants Museum, 10.07 - 09.10.2022) / Piet Boyens, Helewise Berger. - Zwolle : WBOOKS, 2022 ; 's-Hertogenbosch : Het Noordbrabants Museum, 2022 (p. 85) |
|
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