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In Memoriam

Hendrick Brandtsoen
1938-2003


"Two Grapes, Two Berries" 2001, oil/wood, 6 x 6cm (his last painting)

In Memoriam Hendrick Brandtsoen

On 15 April 2003 after a protracted illness, Hendrick Brandtsoen passed away in Antwerp, Belgium. His oeuvre is so small as to ensure that it has always remained confined to a select circle of connoisseurs. Although during his lifetime his health failed him more than once, he always worked long hours, devoting the utmost concentration and tension to paintings which characteristically conveyed a strong sense of tranquillity and emotional balance. A great admirer of seventeenth century painting, Brandtsoen uncompromisingly sought to equal the great masters from those days, barely aware that while doing this he was speaking the language of his own time - or was it an act of defiance on his part? Be this as it may, he never saw the need for people to look upon him as an artist.

Hendrick Brandtsoen was born in Antwerp in 1938, and was regular exhibitor at "Galerie Lieve Hemel" since 1978. His finest still lifes were sold at the TEFAF Art Fair in the early 1990s; in later years he only managed to complete the occasional painting. In the early spring of 2001, with supreme effort he completed his smallest work ever, and the last painting he ever made: "Two Grapes, Two Berries", 6 x 6cm.




"Still Life with Self Portrait", 1985, oil/wood, 35.5 x 46.5cm (private collection)

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