GILBERT SWIMBERGHE, large relief on wood

Gilbert Swimberghe (1927 – 2015) was one of the artists of the post-war avant-garde of abstract art in Belgium. His art, dominated by triangles and squares since the 1950s, witnessed a continuous evolution in color usage. Shifting from warm expressionistic tones to white hues for heightened abstraction. Over time, his color palette transitioned from gray to gray-blue and finally settled into deep blue. A tendency to dissolve the depth structure of paintings into intersecting planes found expression in Gilbert Swimberghe's white-lacquered reliefs in wood and cardboard, produced since 1964.

These objects boast architectural dimensions, with the pure tonal value of their surfaces naturally illuminated by light itself. His work can be found in numerous Belgian and international museums and is now being rediscovered, along with the work of his abstract contemporaries such as Mark Verstockt, Guy Vandenbranden, Dan Van Severen, Jo Delahaut and Luc Peire.