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René Smet
 Without ever succumbing to the temptation of being anecdotal about places and subjects, he paints unceasingly and produces many works. René Smet is a Belgian painter who resides in Paris. He paints in very bold colours and his work is often thematic. René Louis SMET was born in Belgium in 1929. His artistic career began with his joining the St-Luc High School of Art where he proved to be a talented draughtsman and experienced a vital urge to paint. He became an enthusiastic reader in the library, and was exposed to history of art as well as the works of the Old Masters through reproductions. It became clear that painting was to be his life. Having passed the entrance examination to the Fine Arts Academy in Brussels. He became a boarder at the Leon Devos School for two years. 1949 & 1950, where he received a very thorough grounding in drawing and draughtsmanship. He was able to pursue his interests as a young artist during his military service in the Ardennes by teaching other recruits. In 1954 SMET left Belgium, the melting pot of different civilisations and land of intense pictorial experiences, for Brazil where he lived for four years without returning to Europe, particularly in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Manaus. From there he made several extensive visits to Amazonia. Brazil and the rich and gorgeous colours of the Amazonian forest represent an important land-mark in his experience as a painter. His palette, the colours he used, became more luminous, and from then on SMET became a lover of pure colours. Without ever succumbing to the temptation of being anecdotal about places and subjets, he painted unceasingly and produced many works, particularly a whole series of "camavals". He was deeply and sincerely absorbed by Brazilian life and culture. To earn his living he illustrated short stories and novels at the same time exhibiting his paintings. 1956 SAO PAULO (Modem Art Salon - Portrait Salon). 1957 SAO PAULO (Exhibition at the Institute of Architecture). 1958 Travelled to enrich his experience to BAHIA, PERNAMBOUC, AMAZONIA, BELEM, RIO DE JANEIRO (Exhibition at the Maison de France). But he felt the need to maintain contact with other artists and to continue further studies and returned to Brussels in 1959. He was admitted to the painting section of the Paul Delvaux studio at the famous Institut Supérieur de la Cambre. At that time Brussels was one of the artistic capitals of the COBRA movement and attracted confrontations between various factions of the different schools of artists. The two years spent at the Institute were rich in experience and happy. In order to afford these studies he worked with several advertising agencies and produced many posters and models. It was obvious that an interesting career opportunity was opened to him and he received offers of permanent work. But tempting though it was, it was impossible for him to give up his solitary painting. The desire and need to work alone at his easel was far more attractive to him than the bustle of the team work at the agencies. 1959 He received a grant from the Belgian government and due to the Franco-Belgian cultural agreements he was able to spend two years at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, during which he grew very fond of the city and decided to settle there permanently. 1960 Exhibition at the Galerie des Peintres Graveurs. 1961 Paris - Salon du trait 1962 European Prize at Ostende (Silver Medal) 1962 Spent two years in Rome at the Academia Belgica thanks to another grant from the Belgian Government and cultural agreements with Italy. Was able to exhibit his work in 1962 and 1963 In Rome SMET was deeply impressed by the omnipresence of the Church the incomparable art heritage of the City, the purple "ballet" of the prelates and the pomp and majesty of the ceremonies. This influence of the Christian atmosphere reflected in his expression of the Roman themes in a very personal manner, particularly in a series of paintings of bishops and priests. 1963 Exhibition in Rome at the Gallery "Il Bilico" and the same year in Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts Selection) where the Belgian Government acquired some of his paintings. 1964 Returned toParis where he found a studio near Montmartre, still imbued with the memory of great Masters, and where many painters live. 1967 Brussels - further acquisitions by the State and by the Palais des Beaux-Arts for their permanent collection - important show of a series of works at the Cité Universitaire in Paris. 1968 Paris - One man show at the Galerie Bassano and a few months later at the Galerie Montjoie in Brussels. 1969 Tours - Davidson Gallery Again he felt the urge to travel and to experience new horizons, new shapes, volumes and colours. 1970 Discovery of the United States and Canada - he spent over a year on the American continent, including a journey of six months across the Mid-West and South West towards the coast of California. He was greatly fascinated there by the vast and sometimes unreal landscapes, the limitless and desert-like expanses, framed only by the blue and fathomless sky which seemed to influence pemanently his use of different blues. At the same time he discovered the American towns and their extraordinary combination of horizontal and vertical volumes. SMET's town's depict a strange and cold universe, somewhere between reality and imagination. Mobile group exhibits in several American Universities. 1971 Washington - Exhibition at the Georgetown Gallery Brussels - Galerie Racines 1972 Returned to Europe and was able to have exhibitions in several Belgian towns sponsored by various cultural organizations. 1973 Brussels - Galerie l'Oeil Barcelona - tookpart in the exhibition in homage to Sala Gandi 1974 Japan - Exhibition at the Niwaka Gallery in Nagasaki Cagnes sur Mer - participated in the International Arts Festival at the Château Musée Cros de Cagnes 1975 Dusseldorf - Exhibition at the Orangerie and acquisition by them of a large painting for their permanent collection. Based principally in Paris, Smet travelled extensively in Europe, his cultural birthplace. This allowed him, as an artist, a vital confrontation between the past and the present, alongside other contemporary painters, known or unknown. Journeys made within the "golden triangle" of towns of art of Central Europe, Amsterdam and Antwerp, Brudges and Cologne, not forgetting Brussels. 1981 Provins - Festival NAtional at the Hotel de Savigny 1982 Guest of honour at a personal retrospective organized in Brussels by Sabena More and more it became imperative for Smet to return to the tranquility of his studio and pursue his poctoral research. Being of a solitary nature, he rejected the idea of attachment to any school or group, and and an almost pathological need for freedom kept him away from fashionable circles. His love of the sea, present at length in his work, often took him to Brittany, at all times of the year. Whether in Summer brghtness or under morose low Winter skies, sketch pad in hand, he walked and walked, along, along the beaches, dunes, moorlands. These wanderings gave birth to many canvasses in which the main actores are the sky, the sea, sometimes a few stubborn sailing boats braving the squalls, a "Bigoudine" walking bent to the wind, or a procession of old Breton women, infatuated by God, heading towards some mysterious destination. 1983 Museums of Tours andLourdes 1984 Awarded "Painter of light 1984" prize at the 27th Salon of Tours. His recent works, linked directly to his past expressions are faithful to his usual themes, untiringly repeating his cold colour scheme, dominated by the constant obsession with the mastery of colour and the harmoniously balanced organization of the different values under the main influence of blues. Expressions of a serene and tranquil faith, his paintings portray nonetheless a painter's anguish and distress. It is a miracle of artistic creation which allows the communication of an agreable feeling of ease, joy and happiness between the spectator and the work of art, despite the fact that the paintings are conceived inpangs and torment... But that is the painter's concern... | |
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