• Menu
  • Menu

From painters of the Scheldt to KunstDoel

Home » From painters of the Scheldt to KunstDoel

Doel has attracted painters since the 19th century.

The village was the end of “civilization” and the beginning of a world “where infinity flows into sweet reverie” (Eric Legrand, 1959). An Arcadian landscape with endless skies where clouds chased like galleons and cast shadows on the swaying grain fields and the wide water. The most famous painters are: Albert Servaes (Ghent 1883-Luzern 1966), Theophile Bogaert (Dendermonde 1850-1900), Frans Van Leemputten (Werchter 1850-Antwerp 1914), Richard Baeseleer, fellow student of Vincent van Gogh (Antwerp 1867-Geneva 1951) , Albert Baertsoen (Ghent 1866-1922), Herman Broeckaert (Wetteren 1878-Ghent 1930), Julien Celos (Antwerp 1884-1953), Victor Thonet (Antwerp 1885-Kalmthout 1952) and Tony Van Os (Antwerp 1886-Temse 1945).

KunstDoel was founded in 2008. Dozens of artists committed themselves to preserving the village based on the idea that Doel had a cultural future. KunstDoel turned the village into an open-air museum. With respect for the houses and the village atmosphere, art was integrated into the space, both on the facades of uninhabited and in the interiors of inhabited houses. Their message was: ‘Dear government, you are not only breaking lives and stones, but also priceless art treasures.’ Important contemporary artists such as Jan Van Imschoot, Koen van den Broek, Guillaume Bijl, Fred Bervoets, Jan Decleir, Ria Pacquée, Mitja Tusek and Guy Van Bossche cooperated.

Michelangelo Pistoletto, an internationally renowned artist, visited Doel and wrote a letter to the minister in 2009: ‘Prime Minister, I was deeply moved by the aesthetic power of this place. When I looked at the surrounding landscape from the river bank of the Scheldt, it was as if I was standing on a metaphysical axis where different periods of time intersect. Before me I saw the quiet village with the picturesque harbor, behind me the river and the roaring Antwerp harbour, to my right the old windmill in the shadow of the two mighty towers of the nuclear power plant and to my left the gigantic cranes of the Deurganckdock. Prime Minister, I have visited many places all over the world, but this is truly a unique place.”