Known as a painter of landscapes, still-lifes and particularly female genre subjects, Fernand Toussaint is now regarded as one of the premier Belgian painters of the twentieth century. Born in Brussels in 1873 he studied art under Portaels at the Academy of Brussels. His early work consisted, for the most part, of poster design handled in a true Art Nouveau manner. It was after meeting Alfred Stevens in Paris, however, that he decided to concentrate on oil painting. Clearly influenced by Manet he started to paint the pretty images of women for which he is now known. Softly painted yet with a clear understanding of portraiture they are some of the finest examples of genre painting to emerge from Europe in the early years of the twentieth century. Such was his fame and notoriety that he was also commissioned to paint portraits of eminent individuals such as King Leopold III and Cardinal Micara.
This large and important example of his landscape work depicts a scene on the canals of Bruges. It can be dated to around 1925.
After a long and distinguished career, Fernand Toussaint died in Ixelles near Brussels in 1956. His paintings can still be seen today in Belgium at the Charlier Museum in Sint-Joost-ten-Node and the Museum of Ixelles.
Lit; E. Benezit, Arto, Piron
