Louis Baretta
Louis Baretta (born September 26, 1866 in Schaerbeek , † March 5, 1928 there ) was a Belgian portrait painter of Symbolism .
Baretta was the son of a goldsmith. He studied at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles with Jean-François Portaels . Later he attended the painting school "L'Art Flamand", where he developed as a draftsman and etcher under the influence of Félicien Rops .
In 1885 he became a co-founder of the “Voorwaarts” art group. He belongs to the great generation of Belgian symbolists, including James Ensor and Fernand Khnopff , with whom he was also friends.
Around 1900 Baretta worked briefly as a teacher in Schaerbeek. After a conflict, he was released and retired to his attic studio in Brussels. There he led a withdrawn life, physically handicapped and mentally unstable. Baretta was a follower of Marxism but soon switched, under the influence of Léon Bloy, to a mystical Christian belief with the same idealism. Out of deep faith he created religious, visionary symbolist scenes. He also made many self-portraits and often identified with the tormented figure of Christ.
Baretta admired (and portrayed) Emile Verhaeren , Charles Baudelaire , Léon Bloy and also Ludwig van Beethoven . He saw himself as a genius, a martyr, and saw God as the only one who was allowed to judge his work. In the end, he destroyed a large part of his work, of which only a tenth remained. He only took part in two exhibitions: 1914 in the “Spring Salon” and 1925 in the Giroux Gallery, both in Brussels.
After his death in 1928, Baretta left around 40 works to his student Joseph Vuylsteke, who kept a Baretta Museum open in Veurne until his death in 1962 . As a result, most of his works literally landed in the dust. Baretta fell into relative oblivion for decades until TV Brussels dedicated a documentary to him in 2010. In the same year Ghislain Potvlieghe published an extensive biography of Baretta. In autumn 2011 an extensive exhibition of his work took place in the town house and country house in Veurne.
literature
- Baretta, Louis . In: Dictionnaire des peintres belges (Online)
- Ghislain Potvlieghe: Art signs Louis Baretta 1866–1928, de schreeuw van een vervloekt schilder . Uitgeverij De Draak Vzw: 2016: ISBN 978-9-4907-3827-3 .
- René Simar: Le destin tragique du peintre Louis Baretta, 1866–1928 . L'auteur, 1939: Furnes, Musee Baretta, 1949.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Louis Baretta. Biographical data and works in the Netherlands Institute for Art History (Dutch)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Baretta, Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian portrait painter of Symbolism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 26, 1866 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schaerbeek |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 5, 1928 |
| Place of death | Schaerbeek |