Cow.
Artist

Emile Claus – famous Belgian artist

The Route to School.
The Route to School.

Emile Claus is a Belgian artist who gave the world a bright and sunny painting style called Luminism

Emile Claus (September 27, 1849 June 14, 1924) is a famous Belgian artist of the late XIX early XX centuries, the author of many beautiful paintings of landscape, everyday life and portraiture. Emil Klaus is rightfully considered the ancestor of luminism, one of the directions of impressionism, which is characterized by a special color palette with a predominance of sunny shades. The artist’s work had a huge impact on the development of the Belgian fine arts, and his biography is full of interesting events.

Portrait of the Belgian art critic and writer Camille Lemonnier (1844 1913).
Portrait of the Belgian art critic and writer Camille Lemonnier (1844 1913).

Emil Klaus was an outgoing and friendly person, a good organizer and a skillful mentor for young colleagues. He maintained warm friendships with many prominent artists, including:

  • Claude Monet
  • Emile Zola
  • Maurice Maeterlinck;
  • Constantin Meunier.
Reading, 1890
Reading, 1890

Biography of Emil Klaus

Emile Claus was born on September 27, 1849 in the village of Sint-Elois-Veive, located on the outskirts of the Belgian city of Waregem. He was the youngest, sixteenth, child in the family of a rural merchant. From childhood, the boy was fond of drawing and enjoyed visiting the local art school.

Determined to become a professional painter, in 1869 Emil entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, which he successfully graduated five years later. Under the influence of teachers, he began to paint portraits and landscapes in a realistic style, which were popular with the public at exhibitions in Brussels and other cities in Belgium.

The Old Gardener, 1885.
The Old Gardener, 1885.

In 1879, the 30-year-old artist left his native country for the first time and went on a long journey across Europe and North Africa. He visited Algeria and Morocco, visited Spain and France, and at the end of his trip in 1882 he took part for the first time in the Paris exhibition with the painting “Cock Fight in Flanders”. At the same time, Klaus got acquainted with the works of the Impressionists, which made a huge impression on him.

Returning to Belgium, Emile Claus bought a small house in the vicinity of Waregem and set up his studio there. Most of the time, the master devoted to painting landscapes, but his style began to gradually change. The palette of colors in the artist’s paintings became brighter and warmer, sunny shades began to prevail in his works.

Self portrait (1874).
Self portrait (1874).

In 1886, Emile Claus married the daughter of a local lawyer, with whom he lived happily until his death. And in the late autumn of 1889, after seven years of permanent residence in the provinces, the painter left his native land and decided to visit Paris again. In the French capital, he also set up a workshop in which he spent the winter months, and with the onset of the summer heat, he invariably returned to Belgium.

In Paris, Emile made friends with many outstanding colleagues and even became a member of a progressive creative association the New Society of Painters and Sculptors. And in his native Belgium, in 1904, he founded the Life and Light group, in which he gathered his like-minded people adherents of luminism.

Orchard in Flanders.
Orchard in Flanders.

Over the years, Klaus has remained a popular and respected painter.

He constantly took part in international exhibitions, traveled the world, visited the USA and many European countries. The master’s paintings were repeatedly awarded medals at competitions, and the Belgian authorities awarded him the highest regalia of the country the Order of Leopold.

Shortly before the start of the First World War, the painter managed to leave for England, where he lived until the end of 1918. And returning to Belgium, he settled again at his country villa in the vicinity of Waregem. Here the brilliant master lived until his death, enjoying beautiful views and occasionally receiving guests. At the height of his fame and international recognition, Emil Klaus died on June 14, 1924 at the age of 74. The body of the artist, in accordance with the will, was buried in the garden of his villa, where his remains are still buried under a modest grave monument.

Children in the field.
Children in the field.
The most famous paintings by Emile Claus

During his long creative career, the Belgian painter has created many skillful masterpieces. And yet, among the most famous paintings by Emil Klaus are:

  1. The Fight of the Roosters in Flanders (1882) is the work thanks to which the young artist acquired his first international fame. One of the best works of the initial period of creativity is written in a realistic style and differs significantly in color from most of the other masterpieces of the master.
  2. The First Communion (1893) is a painting created in a pronounced luministic manner. On it, the figures of little girls in snow-white dresses stand out clearly against the background of an ancient temple and a high brick wall.
  3. Cows Crossed by Foxes (1899) is a charming masterpiece with elements of landscape, animalism and everyday life. A small herd of village cows wade across a calm river, accompanied by a boat with a shepherd and two lively children.
  4. “Sunrise over Waterloo Bridge” (1916) is a work written by the artist in the London emigration in the style of luminism. The rays of the bright sun with great efforts make their way through the fog of the British capital and dimly illuminate the outlines of ancient buildings, the bridge and the embankment.
Sunrise over Waterloo.
Sunrise over Waterloo.

Emile Klaus is one of the brightest masters of Belgian painting, who worked at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. And his unique paintings filled with sunlight still attract millions of art connoisseurs around the world to museums.

Figure Skaters 1891. Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Figure Skaters 1891. Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Wealth and Poverty (1880).
Wealth and Poverty (1880).
Landscape in Algeria (1879).
Landscape in Algeria (1879).
Emile Klaus Cockfight in Flanders (1882).
Cockfight in Flanders (1882).
Tree In The Sun (1899 1900).
Tree In The Sun (1899 1900).
Emile Klaus Portrait of the wife, (1900).
Portrait of the wife, (1900).
Emile Klaus The Picnic, (1887).
The Picnic, (1887).
Emile Claus Young peasant women at the leie.
Young peasant women at the leie.
Emile Claus In the Garden, (1891), Музей изящных искусств, Турне.
In the Garden, (1891), Музей изящных искусств, Турне.
Emile Claus Tree In The Sun , 1900.
Tree In The Sun , 1900.
Emile Claus Sun Glow, 1905, Museum Dhondt Dhaennes in Dörla.
Sun Glow, 1905, Museum Dhondt Dhaennes in Dörla.
Emile Claus Cow.
Cow.
Emile Claus Summer morning, 1891.
Summer morning, 1891.
Emile Claus Summer evening, 1895.
Summer evening, 1895.
Emile Claus Beetroot Harvest.
Beetroot Harvest.