HEERBRANT
The wizard of art
Henri Heerbrant (Brussels 1912-1982)
"En art la répétition est la mort : de la fantaisie que diable !"
"En art la répétition est la mort : de la fantaisie que diable !"
Invitation card for a Heerbrant exhibition at Galerie Lou Cosyn Brussels, 1950
Texts by a.o. René Magritte, Marcel Lecomte & Camille Goemans
Texts by a.o. René Magritte, Marcel Lecomte & Camille Goemans
SURREALISM : Click HERE
SIGNS, SYMBOLS & ECRITURES : Click HERE
Biography
Heerbrant ( Brussels 1912 - 1982 ) was a self-made man, figurative and abstract at the same time, which was rather upsetting the art critics, since they were unable to “classify” his work. Heerbrant appears to be indebted to Paul Klee and was familiar with the work of Victor Brauner, whom he met in Paris. However, he followed his own path as an artist and created a world of his own. Daumier’s work incited him to turn his fellow-men, colleagues and politicians into ridicule by caricaturing their vices, German expressionists George Grosz and Otto Dix made him transform real portrait-studies by adding clownesque elements and change compositions by inclining and breaking the space into fragments, creating hereby a dynamic impression.
Heerbrant was very interested in ancient cultures, rituals, supernatural forces and ancestral cults. Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology, Precolumbian and Maya art, Persian miniatures and African tribal sculpture were all sources of inspiration for his fantastic creatures and strange bestiary. Heerbrant was a communist at heart and lived up to his principles and ideals without accepting any compromise. Moreover, his cynical sense of humor turned him into a lonely man with few friends and plenty of enemies. Nevertheless, famous belgian collectors such as Bénédict Goldschmidt, Baron Bertie Urvater, Philippe Dotremont and Fernand Graindorge found the way to his atelier and discovered a great artist and a genuine alchimist, experimenting continuously with home-made colours, acids and varnishes, using all kinds of techniques and tools…They saw watercolours, gouaches and oils on paper, charcoal- and ink drawings, monotypes, lithographs, woodcuts and linoprints, shining copperplates and black carved slates, drypoints, aquatints, collages and totems. Henceforth, Heerbrant’s works traveled around the world in the company of great artists such as Paul Klee, Victor Brauner, Max Ernst etc.. He was invited several times to exhibit at the Biennials in Venice, Ljubljana, Sao Paulo and the US ( Pittsburgh, Dallas, New York, Cincinnati in 1965 ) and his works were commented by famous poets and even by the great Magritte himself, who compared him to Klee. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh have a fine collection of the artist's works.
Principal solo exhibitions : Galerie Lou Cosyn Brussels (1948,1950, 1951), Galerie Dietrich Brussels (1951), Galerie Bongers & Galerie Calligrammes Paris (1950), Galerie Nationale Luzern (1953), Galerie Maya Brussels (1967), Galerie Arcanes Brussels (1970), 1990 Maison de la Culture Tournai, Group 2 Gallery Brussels 1991, 2008, 2012, 2017, R.W.E. AG Brussels 1999, 't Elzenveld Antwerp 1999.
Group 2 Gallery has organized several one-man shows of Heerbrant and published an illustrated monography about the artist in 1991. Works by Heerbrant are exhibited regularly at the Gallery both in group- and thematic exhibitions.
Heerbrant was very interested in ancient cultures, rituals, supernatural forces and ancestral cults. Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology, Precolumbian and Maya art, Persian miniatures and African tribal sculpture were all sources of inspiration for his fantastic creatures and strange bestiary. Heerbrant was a communist at heart and lived up to his principles and ideals without accepting any compromise. Moreover, his cynical sense of humor turned him into a lonely man with few friends and plenty of enemies. Nevertheless, famous belgian collectors such as Bénédict Goldschmidt, Baron Bertie Urvater, Philippe Dotremont and Fernand Graindorge found the way to his atelier and discovered a great artist and a genuine alchimist, experimenting continuously with home-made colours, acids and varnishes, using all kinds of techniques and tools…They saw watercolours, gouaches and oils on paper, charcoal- and ink drawings, monotypes, lithographs, woodcuts and linoprints, shining copperplates and black carved slates, drypoints, aquatints, collages and totems. Henceforth, Heerbrant’s works traveled around the world in the company of great artists such as Paul Klee, Victor Brauner, Max Ernst etc.. He was invited several times to exhibit at the Biennials in Venice, Ljubljana, Sao Paulo and the US ( Pittsburgh, Dallas, New York, Cincinnati in 1965 ) and his works were commented by famous poets and even by the great Magritte himself, who compared him to Klee. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh have a fine collection of the artist's works.
Principal solo exhibitions : Galerie Lou Cosyn Brussels (1948,1950, 1951), Galerie Dietrich Brussels (1951), Galerie Bongers & Galerie Calligrammes Paris (1950), Galerie Nationale Luzern (1953), Galerie Maya Brussels (1967), Galerie Arcanes Brussels (1970), 1990 Maison de la Culture Tournai, Group 2 Gallery Brussels 1991, 2008, 2012, 2017, R.W.E. AG Brussels 1999, 't Elzenveld Antwerp 1999.
Group 2 Gallery has organized several one-man shows of Heerbrant and published an illustrated monography about the artist in 1991. Works by Heerbrant are exhibited regularly at the Gallery both in group- and thematic exhibitions.
Early years and the making of a free spirit
Henri Heerbrant was born in Brussels in 1912 and died there in 1982. He developed his artistic practice largely outside academic circles, which explains his reputation as an artistic “free spirit.” Critics found him difficult to classify because he pursued figurative and abstract approaches in parallel. This duality was not a stylistic whim, but the result of a persistent drive to approach every pictorial problem from multiple angles. The outcome is an oeuvre in constant motion, without losing its internal logic, where formal research and imagination continually challenge one another. His early sketches already reveal a natural sense of rhythm and a sharp eye for satirical commentary on society.
A dual interest emerged from the beginning. One path focused on the human figure through portraits, biting caricatures and socially critical works. The other investigated line, sign and structure. This duality remained the engine of his oeuvre and nourished both the early surrealising sheets and the later geometric compositions. Sketchbooks, loose sheets and studio experiments reveal explorations that resurface in more developed series, giving his evolution a tangible sense of continuity. This coherence explains why even distant periods share recognisable signatures.
Encounters and influences from Paris sharpened his outlook. He was familiar with the work of Paul Klee and Victor Brauner, yet he transformed such impulses into a language entirely his own. His biting humour, spatial experimentation and hunger for visual research place him within the Belgian modernist tradition, but always on his own terms. He maintained full independence from passing trends, which contributes to the enduring freshness of his work. His visual world is at once intimate and worldly, rooted in the studio and nourished by international exchange.
A dual interest emerged from the beginning. One path focused on the human figure through portraits, biting caricatures and socially critical works. The other investigated line, sign and structure. This duality remained the engine of his oeuvre and nourished both the early surrealising sheets and the later geometric compositions. Sketchbooks, loose sheets and studio experiments reveal explorations that resurface in more developed series, giving his evolution a tangible sense of continuity. This coherence explains why even distant periods share recognisable signatures.
Encounters and influences from Paris sharpened his outlook. He was familiar with the work of Paul Klee and Victor Brauner, yet he transformed such impulses into a language entirely his own. His biting humour, spatial experimentation and hunger for visual research place him within the Belgian modernist tradition, but always on his own terms. He maintained full independence from passing trends, which contributes to the enduring freshness of his work. His visual world is at once intimate and worldly, rooted in the studio and nourished by international exchange.
Architecture of the line, technique of the matter
Heerbrant moved freely between media. He worked with ink and charcoal, gouache and oil, as well as monotype, linocut, drypoint, aquatint and collage. He experimented with homemade pigments, varnishes and acids. The result is a tactile surface where light, relief and texture carry meaning, as if the skin of the artwork participates in the narrative. His sensitivity to materials gives both small paper works and larger canvases a vivid, almost monumental presence. This tactility is equally present in his print series, where variations in pressure, direction and paper fibre subtly shift the image.
From George Grosz and Otto Dix he absorbed a sharpened satirical awareness. Space tilts, frames rupture, and figures acquire a theatrical charge. In his abstract works, rhythm, repetition and the discontinuity of the line become central. In figurative sheets, portraits and caricatures, he unmasks ego and power with a precise, often unforgiving hand, while an undercurrent of empathy preserves the human dimension. The tension between sharp observation and poetic suggestion gives many works their lasting impact. With minimal means he achieves maximum clarity, enhancing both readability and depth.
His oeuvre of the 1950s and 1960s shows a growing attention to gesture as a constructive element. Writing becomes architecture: signs slide, collide and anchor themselves into compositions that read like musical scores. The viewer is invited to follow the movement of making, turning the act of looking into a near-performative experience. This generates a musicality of line and plane that encourages slow, concentrated viewing. The work unfolds over time, revealing accents that only emerge fully after repeated looking.
From George Grosz and Otto Dix he absorbed a sharpened satirical awareness. Space tilts, frames rupture, and figures acquire a theatrical charge. In his abstract works, rhythm, repetition and the discontinuity of the line become central. In figurative sheets, portraits and caricatures, he unmasks ego and power with a precise, often unforgiving hand, while an undercurrent of empathy preserves the human dimension. The tension between sharp observation and poetic suggestion gives many works their lasting impact. With minimal means he achieves maximum clarity, enhancing both readability and depth.
His oeuvre of the 1950s and 1960s shows a growing attention to gesture as a constructive element. Writing becomes architecture: signs slide, collide and anchor themselves into compositions that read like musical scores. The viewer is invited to follow the movement of making, turning the act of looking into a near-performative experience. This generates a musicality of line and plane that encourages slow, concentrated viewing. The work unfolds over time, revealing accents that only emerge fully after repeated looking.
Themes and series: surrealist visions, signs and écriture
Heerbrant drew intensely from myths and ancient cultures. Egyptian, Greek and Roman motifs, Pre-Columbian and Mayan references, African sculpture and Persian miniatures populate his bestiary of masks, totems and hybrid creatures. These sources never become literal quotations. Instead, they serve as energetic triggers within his imagination. In doing so, he connects the archaic with the contemporary, turning tradition into a springboard for experimentation. The references always support the image, never dominate it.
His surreal figures and dreamlike visions translate this heritage into a personal visual logic. Works such as LABYRINTHand DREAMLIKE VISION show how he tempers the irrational through clear organisation. The unconscious takes shape without slipping into illustration, allowing each work to be read in multiple ways. Subtle shifts in scale, direction and rhythm guide the eye through the image, as if following a trail of thought. Layers of semi-transparency create depth that reinforces the narrative quality of his compositions.
In the series Signs, symbols and écriture, he explores the frontier between image and language. Lines become letters and letters dissolve back into lines. The act of looking slows down. Meaning lies not only in what appears on the surface, but in the way the composition is constructed, with accents functioning like punctuation. An alphabet of gestures emerges, inviting the viewer to read and to listen. The signs seem to speak, not as words but as rhythms that activate memory and imagination.
Parallel to this are geometric abstract panels and works on paper. Here, the emphasis shifts toward structure, proportion and balance. A continuous dialogue arises between the freedom of gesture and the rigor of order, a hallmark of his mature period. This balance provides the backbone that draws both collectors and curators to his work.
His surreal figures and dreamlike visions translate this heritage into a personal visual logic. Works such as LABYRINTHand DREAMLIKE VISION show how he tempers the irrational through clear organisation. The unconscious takes shape without slipping into illustration, allowing each work to be read in multiple ways. Subtle shifts in scale, direction and rhythm guide the eye through the image, as if following a trail of thought. Layers of semi-transparency create depth that reinforces the narrative quality of his compositions.
In the series Signs, symbols and écriture, he explores the frontier between image and language. Lines become letters and letters dissolve back into lines. The act of looking slows down. Meaning lies not only in what appears on the surface, but in the way the composition is constructed, with accents functioning like punctuation. An alphabet of gestures emerges, inviting the viewer to read and to listen. The signs seem to speak, not as words but as rhythms that activate memory and imagination.
Parallel to this are geometric abstract panels and works on paper. Here, the emphasis shifts toward structure, proportion and balance. A continuous dialogue arises between the freedom of gesture and the rigor of order, a hallmark of his mature period. This balance provides the backbone that draws both collectors and curators to his work.
Exhibitions, networks and collections
Shortly after the war, Heerbrant’s work was shown in Brussels galleries such as Galerie Lou Cosyn, accompanied by contributions from contemporary artists like René Magritte, Marcel Lecomte and Camille Goemans in publications and introductory texts. The 1950s brought increasing international visibility, including participation in the Biennales of Venice, Ljubljana and São Paulo and exhibitions in the United States. These trajectories brought his work to the attention of museum curators as well as private collectors, ensuring lasting visibility. Press reviews and catalogues from that period confirm the broad appreciation of his oeuvre.
His work circulated within the network of Belgian collectors such as Baron Bertie Urvater and Emile Langui and was discussed by critics and poets of the avant-garde. Museum collections in Belgium and abroad acquired representative ensembles, further consolidating his position within twentieth-century Belgian art history. Publications, catalogues and exhibition files document the richness of his techniques and series, an asset for scholarly and collector-oriented contexts. The consistency of this documentation enhances the traceability and understanding of his oeuvre.
This broad reception underscores what defines Heerbrant. He does not fit into a single category, navigating instead between surrealism, figuration, abstraction and écriture. This fluidity resonates strongly today with audiences receptive to hybrid visual languages and to connections between tradition, experimentation and contemporary concerns. His work fits naturally in thematic group exhibitions as well as focused presentations on writing and drawing.
Group 2 Gallery keeps Heerbrant’s legacy alive through exhibitions, private viewings and collection guidance. Available works in drawing, monotype, gouache, pastel, mixed media and oil painting illustrate his unique position between surrealism, geometric abstraction and écriture.
His work circulated within the network of Belgian collectors such as Baron Bertie Urvater and Emile Langui and was discussed by critics and poets of the avant-garde. Museum collections in Belgium and abroad acquired representative ensembles, further consolidating his position within twentieth-century Belgian art history. Publications, catalogues and exhibition files document the richness of his techniques and series, an asset for scholarly and collector-oriented contexts. The consistency of this documentation enhances the traceability and understanding of his oeuvre.
This broad reception underscores what defines Heerbrant. He does not fit into a single category, navigating instead between surrealism, figuration, abstraction and écriture. This fluidity resonates strongly today with audiences receptive to hybrid visual languages and to connections between tradition, experimentation and contemporary concerns. His work fits naturally in thematic group exhibitions as well as focused presentations on writing and drawing.
Group 2 Gallery keeps Heerbrant’s legacy alive through exhibitions, private viewings and collection guidance. Available works in drawing, monotype, gouache, pastel, mixed media and oil painting illustrate his unique position between surrealism, geometric abstraction and écriture.
