Dirk Braeckman & Léon Spilliaert - Night Wanderers

Dark hours

In the works of Belgian artists Léon Spilliaert and Dirk Braeckman, it always seems to be night. Although Spilliaert mostly worked with ink, pencil and chalk and Braeckman mainly photographs, they share their fascination for the dark hours. The much black, the grey, points of light that emphasise the dark, shades of darkness: with their nocturnal gaze, they process their immediate surroundings and impressions into ambiguous dream images that raise more questions than answers. Their works seem to emerge from the same emotional world: they show the mysterious, the elusive and the indefinable. 

Stillness, absence, isolation and suggestion are central themes. Shades of grey dominate and there always seems to be an atypical framing. Their work has clear roots in the symbolist tradition, but above all they share an emotional affinity in expressing the mysteries of life - an affinity that can hardly be captured in words. All the more reason to explore this further in a major exhibition.

Léon Spilliaert

Spilliaert, largely self-taught, develops a unique graphic style of India ink, pastel crayon, watercolour and pencil. His work, often in black, grey and blue, depicts the sea, deserted streets, hushed rooms and self-portraits shrouded in nocturnal shadows. Spilliaert is akin to symbolism, a movement developing in Belgium around 1900 as a reaction to the industrial revolution, in which artists focus on the inner world. Due to his poor health, Spilliaert leads a reclusive life in his hometown, travelling exclusively in his head. His sombre colours reflect his inner struggles.

Dirk Braeckman

Photography is Dirk Braeckman's medium, but he works like a painter. He deviates from photographic conventions and takes an experimental, painterly approach. For him, the photograph is just a starting point; the creation only takes shape in the darkroom. Overexposing the photo paper or wild swipes of fixative make the maker's hand visible, which also leads to unique works of large format.

As in Spilliaert's work, Braeckman's works seem stripped of time, place and narrative. Braeckman does not create images to inform us about reality. On the contrary, the images are often ambiguous or inscrutable. They carry a promise of a revelation that will never happen. Whereas with Spilliaert the deep black is seen as a reflection of his soul, with Braeckman the darkness flows from the shadow side that sticks to every worldly object.