Franz Van Montfort (1889–1980) - Paysage de banlieue

Oil on canvas marouflaged on panel measuring 19.5 × 25 cm, in a frame of 30 × 40 cm. The work is signed “F. Van Monfort” and dated 1951.

This small landscape shows a vast green space in which a few low buildings appear, suburban houses, and a small square at the intersection of several roads. The vegetation occupies an important place in the composition, gradually allowing the built elements to emerge.

The painting has a free and fairly raw facture, with visible material and a construction that favors masses, color relationships and restraint over descriptive precision. This freedom of execution fits with the approach of Franz Van Montfort, a Belgian painter born in Brussels in 1889, whose work is generally associated with Brabant Fauvism.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, Van Montfort spent much of his career in Paris. He notably participated in the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in Paris in 1937, where the catalogue lists him as “Van Montfort (Franz), born in Brussels — Belgian” and mentions two works, “Route de Senlis” and “Paysage.”

His work is represented in Belgian institutional collections, notably at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, which hold, among others, a Self-Portrait dated 1951, i.e., the same period as this painting.

A small-format work, but interesting for its free pictorial handwriting and its way of treating the landscape by masses, colors and brushstrokes rather than by meticulous description.