The River: Bright Spells, ca. 1905

This painting is part of a series of initially three - later five - canvases that Valerius De Saedeleer painted in 1905 of a River Lys bend in the vicinity of Sint-Martens-Latem, each time seen from the same angle. For this series of works, he chose the simple, overarching title of The River. In essence, he brought in an ode to cyclic nature: a rainy or stormy day, a spring, summer or autumn day, a windy day. Together, the paintings form an inseparable unity. Here, the river is the symbol of the farmer's connection to nature and his dependence on it. As changeable as nature is, so changeable are the moods in a person. On the occasion of the 1905 Ghent Salon, Karel van de Woestijne admired above all 'the expression, not of nature itself, but of what one feels with nature'. The exhibition of the polyptych was the artist's breakthrough in Belgium and aroused interest in his work in Germany and Austria.