The harbour of Blankenberghe

Details

Willem Paerels (Belgian, 1878-1962)
The harbour of Blankenberghe
signed 'W.M. Paerels' (lower left)
oil on canvas
50 x 60 cm.
Painted circa 1914.

Provenance

Kunsthandel Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, where acquired by the present owner in 1989.

Special notice

Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

At the age of 16 Willem Paerels left his native town Delft for Brussels to pursue an artistic career. Later he worked in Paris, but the outbreak of The Great War forced him to stay in The Netherlands. There, he mainly worked in and around Scheveningen, where he met many Belgian artists and writers who had found a refuge there. The sea, its coastlines and the harbours continuously inspired Paerels. In his paintings, Paerels often focused on the harbours' entrance and its shipping. The viewpoint in The harbour of Blankenberghe, and the fact that the artist left some of the canvas bare, shows Paerels' steps towards more fauvist paintings.
(see: Goyens de Heusch, S., Het impressionisme en het fauvisme in België, Antwerpen 1988)

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