Jef Verheyen (1932–1984, Flanders, Belgium) devoted his practice to exploring light, space, colour, and perception. Rooted in the Flemish tradition, he also developed strong international connections with key figures of the ZERO movement, including Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack, and Christian Megert. From the late 1950s onward, he participated in major international exhibitions and became an important voice in post-war European abstraction.

As the author of the Essentialism manifesto and founder of The New Flemish School in 1959, Verheyen pursued an art of purity, silence, and spirituality. His training as a ceramicist shaped his sensitivity to layered colour, translucent surfaces, and subtle depth, while Eastern philosophy inspired his search for an “all-encompassing whole,” or het vol-ledige.

His work evolved from expressive studies of form and colour toward refined monochrome, achrome, and panchrome paintings, later incorporating delicate geometric structures. Born with a visual handicap, Verheyen believed that art should be “felt” rather than merely seen. Light became his principal artistic medium, used not to depict reality but to evoke contemplation, stillness, and inner experience.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Verheyen travelled widely in search of different qualities of light. In 1974, he settled in Provence, where the intense Mediterranean light had a profound influence on his work. He died suddenly in 1984.

Following the major 2024 retrospective at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), this exhibition, organised in close collaboration with the Jef Verheyen Archive, presents a selection of previously unseen works from the artist’s estate and offers an intimate perspective on one of Europe’s most poetic painters of light.

Artists: Jef Verheyen