Philippe Vandenberg Belgium, b. 1952

Inspired by his lifelong study and idiosyncratic contemplation of literature and philosophy, Philippe Vandenberg explored the manner in which his inner temperament reflected mankind’s spiritual inheritance. His paintings are the outcome of a chain of processes in which external intellectual stimuli enter into a vital dialogue with private emotions. Vandenberg’s late abstract works are distinguished by a set of recurring characteristics, including the rough treatment of materials, visible traces of physical movement, multi-layered surfaces and the materialisation of intuitive and subjective sentiments. Rather than carrying a sense of completion, the resulting abstract images declare the end of a certain stage in the artist’s creative process. At the same time, they disclose the primary preoccupations of the artist in his later years, namely the relentless study of his own sensibilities.

Philippe Vandenberg graduated with a degree in Literature and History of Art from Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium. When he opened his first solo exhibition in New York in 1986 he had already built a strong career with its centre in Europe. He emerged as a leading contemporary artist from Belgium as his work became included in the Guggenheim Museum collection. Furthermore he had many exhibitions in major international galleries and museums such as S.M.A.K, Belgium in 1995, MuHKA, Belgium in 1999, De Pont Museum in 2012 and Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, London.