René Daniëls

Between 1977 and 1987, the year in which he suffered a stroke, René Daniëls, created one of the most intriguing oeuvres in the postwar art of the Netherlands. His work is both humorous and enigmatic. Daniëls considers himself a kindred spirit of Duchamp, Picabia and Broodthaers, artists who pursued not so much the development of a style but the chance to take different routes time and again. He once referred to his field of activity as ‘the former no man’s land between literature, visual art and life.’ Ghent is a portrait of the city in two senses. The broadly sketched painting shows a row of houses that seem to have come to life. This strange painting manifests mental restlessness, but also great poetic imagination.