Tervuren. A Belgian Artists’ Colony

The emergence of the Tervuren artists’ colony cannot be explained without the lively artistic exchange between Paris and Brussels in the 19th century. In the small town of Tervuren, not far from Brussels, which in the Middle Ages was the summer residence of the art-loving Dukes of Brabant and whose “zonal forest” offered a particularly large number of picturesque motifs, one of the most important Belgian artists’ colonies was founded around 1850, soon to be called the Belgian Barbizon. Its founder is Théodore Fourmois (1814-1871), who had attracted attention with his simple, naturalistic landscape paintings in the Salon de Bruxelles. The painters Hippolyte Boulenger and Jules Raemakers coined the term “School of Tervuren” when they claimed to be students of the “Ecole de Tervuren” at an exhibition in Brussels in 1866. While the first generation of painters was clearly influenced by Barbizon, the transition from Realism to “Belgian Impressionism” is visible in the paintings of a second generation of painters from 1880 onwards. After 1910, the artists’ colony of Tervuren lost importance.

With Tervuren, the Picture Gallery presents another European artists’ colony. It shows 76 paintings and prints from the holdings of the museum, which is currently being renovated, and is conceived in collaboration with De Vrienden van de School van Tervuren.

https://dachauer-galerien-museen.de/gemaeldegalerie/

https://www.vriendensvt.be/