Kind met papieren kroon

Officially, Eugène Brands' alliance with the Cobra movement only lasted until 1949. Yet the impact of the Cobra language in his work was deeper than he could ever presume. Already in 1950, the artist began researching children's drawings, a typical Cobra source of inspiration, mainly those of his three year old daughter. To such an extent, that it brought about a complete change in his work in 1951. The primitive unspoiled figuration he discovered in the drawings in question, were carefully transferred into small oil paintings. Brands combined the new motives, strolling houses or large helpless heads with small arms, with a dominating theme; the magical of primitive cultures. Later on he would translate this mysterious world of magical signs like locks, keys, loose legs and arms or floating boats into more abstract and surreal compositions, executed in his famous woolly brush.

See colour illustration