Jacques Vander Elst (1925-1991): "Calvary in St Jean in Brittany 1970"

Jacques Vander Elst is, above all, an artist from the Ardennes. Having lived and held his workshop in Vresse for many years, he was thus well placed to understand nature and translate its roughness. His vision of the region gives his art a certain power. Its dark colours are opposed to those of Brittany's coastal landscapes. But the Ardennes, as it is, is dark, rough, tormented and leaves little room for light, forced to sneak between the trees. Jacques Vander Elst knows how to paint the true face of these countries.

Jacques Vander Elst was born in Saint-Josse in 1925. He is an only child and was very interested in drawing and lyrical theatre at an early age. His favourite art is first of all lyrical singing but in 1944, when he had to hide to escape deportation, he devoted himself to painting. From the Liberation, he made a career in the theatre to finally return to painting in 1960 and totally devoted himself to it as a professional. Seeking to settle along the Semois, he travelled through the villages with his wife and in 1962, having a real crush on the village of Vresse, he sought to settle there in order to be inspired by its picturesque character. He died on December 31, 1991.