Permeke, Constant

Constant Permeke, (born July 31, 1886, Antwerp, Belgium—died January 4, 1952, Ostend), painter and sculptor, who was significant in the development of Expressionism in Belgium.

Permeke studied at art academies in Belgium at Brugge (1903–06) and Ghent (1906–08). He met fellow Belgian artists Frits van den Berghe and Gustave and Léon de Smet, and from 1909 to 1912 he joined them at a popular artists’ colony at Sint-Martens-Latem. While serving in the Belgian army during World War I, Permeke was wounded in 1914 and sent to England to recover. There he created some of his first significant paintings.

After the war, Permeke returned to Belgium, settling in Ostend. He continued to develop his mature painting style, characterized by thick brushwork, sombre colours, and depictions of massive human figures. Although his subjects and themes were grounded in the Flemish tradition—farmers, fishermen, and everyday life—Permeke’s personal vision gave powerful expression to the ordinary, as in The Oarsmen (1921). In 1929 he moved to the village of Jabbeke, where he built a house that now serves as a museum to preserve and display his work. In 1935 he began sculpting torsos and nudes that were marked by the same solid, weighty, and often brutal style. Permeke is credited with helping to introduce an Expressionist approach—typified by images that are often distorted by the artist to express emotional qualities—to Belgian art.