Rik Wouters and Gezelle

An aphorism by Gezelle inspired Rik Wouters to paint an expressionist female nude.

In Awe of Gezelle

Rik Wouters painted Gezelle's saying in graceful characters and decorated it by means of a female figure carried out in only a few well-aimed Indian ink streaks. Wouters’s choice of a Gezelle saying should not be surprising. His biographer Eric Min refers to Wouters’s admiration for Gezelle. In his modest library Gezelle’s collections Tijdkrans (Wreath of Time) and Rijmsnoer (Garland of Rhyme) both found their place.

(Gezelle's saying: If you seek someone behind the oven, you have been sitting there yourself)

Nel

Whilst walking through the countryside and the Zoniënwoud with his beloved Nel, Wouters would recite verses of Gezelle, beating the rhythm with his hands.

(Painting of Nel by Rick Wouters, Wikimedia)