DAENS Antoine (Brussels, 1871 - Ixelles, 1946)

Post-Impressionist painter and pastellist of landscapes, genre scenes, nudes

Trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, he then worked as a teacher at the Académie de Watermael-Boitsfort. An avid traveler, Daens spent long periods in Italy, France and North Africa, and on several occasions lived with his brother in Nice.

Daens often exhibited in Belgium, notably at the "La Palette" gallery in Brussels in 1918. His teaching career at Watermael-Boitsfort left its mark on a generation of students,

From his travels, he had brought back the blue light of the Orient, which nimbed his nudes, always perfect in the truth of form. His raw beauties were displayed without mawkishness, with realism pushed to the very imperfections of the body.