​GILBERT  SWIMBERGHE
LESS IS MORE

Gilbert Swimberghe (Bruges 1928 - Brussels 2015)
Belgian minimalist - geometric abstract artist
Contact us for prices of available works : group2gallerybrussels@gmail.com or tel 02 539.23.09

"Composition" 1974, Oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm

Painting by Swimberghe, sculptures by Louis Halleux

"Dark blue & black" 1993, Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

"Shades of Grey" 2002, 100 x 100 cm

"Rhapsody in Blue" 2007, Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

Former Minister Marc Galle opening a Swimberghe exhibition

​Gilbert Swimberghe was born in Bruges in 1927. He studied at the Fine Arts Academies in Bruges ( 1940-46 ) and in Brussels ( 1947-48 ). His first works were figurative in the flemish expressionist tradition ( still lifes, portraits and landscapes ). In the 1950's his work evolved gradually to full abstraction. Swimberghe has participated in the movement of monochrome pictorial and sculptural expression of the late fifties and sixties, like the Zero group
​( Mack, Piene, Uecker, Leblanc ), Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Jef Verheyen a.o. 
Prof. Willem Elias wrote that the artist continously investigated the possibilities of working with only one color or a limited combination of multiple shades of that colour. His work is very recognisable is in its limitation and economy of means ( minimalism, less is more ). The present exhibition focuses on the so-called "Grey" and "Blue" periods ( starting in the 1990's ) of the artist's career, featuring geometrical forms, especially the triangle.
A fine book about the artist by was published by Snoeck-Ducaju and the Credit Communal of Belgium in 1997.

 

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