Farmers

Like so many artists of his generation, in the 1920-1930 period Jean Brusselmans sought a synthesis between simple forms based on Cubism and a more lyrical expressionist approach. The artist found his inspiration for the 1928 work Farmers in the labour of his fellow-villagers in Dilbeek, which lies in the hilly landscape of Pajottenland near Brussels. The figures in the…

Like so many artists of his generation, in the 1920-1930 period Jean Brusselmans sought a synthesis between simple forms based on Cubism and a more lyrical expressionist approach. The artist found his inspiration for the 1928 work Farmers in the labour of his fellow-villagers in Dilbeek, which lies in the hilly landscape of Pajottenland near Brussels. The figures in the painting have no distinguishing features and are only part of the geometric composition. The numerous preliminary sketches, twenty of which the museum has in its possession, show how rationally Brusselmans constructed his compositions and gave shape to the landscape, the figures and the objects in a design of triangles, diagonals and grids.