The Sambre Valley, 1890

Even though Théo Van Rysselberghe already became aware of neo-impressionism in 1886, he himself only started to apply the technique in 1887–1888. In doing so, he and a number of other Belgian artists, such as Willy Finch, Georges Lemmen and Henry Van de Velde, were among the first artists to become captivated by the art of Georges Seurat. Among Van Rysselberghe’s oeuvre, The Sambre Valley is one the earliest known examples of a fully pointillated landscape. Whereas he previously depicted nature in an impressionistic, way, he subsequently started to analyse landscapes in an almost scientific way. The painting originally belonged to Sylvie Descamps, who was the artist’s mother-in-law and the Brussels-based publisher of Emile Verhaeren, among others. She owned a holiday home in Thuin (Hainaut, Belgium) along the banks of the river Sambre. The painter and his wife Maria Monnom often stayed there during the summer months. In 1890, the year after he got married, Van Rysselberghe also spent time there and painted this work of art. One year later, he exhibited the painting with the group of artists Les Vingt.