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Artist or Maker: Willem Paerels (Belgian, 1878-1962)

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Provenance: Kunsthandel Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, where acquired by the present owner in 1989.

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Notes: At the age of 16 Willem Paerels left his native town Delft for Brussels to pursue an artistic career. Later he worked in Paris, but the outbreak of The Great War forced him to stay in The Netherlands. There, he mainly worked in and around Scheveningen, where he met many Belgian artists and writers who had found a refuge there. The sea, its coastlines and the harbours continuously inspired Paerels. In his paintings, Paerels often focused on the harbours' entrance and its shipping. The viewpoint in The harbour of Blankenberghe, and the fact that the artist left some of the canvas bare, shows Paerels' steps towards more fauvist paintings.
(see: Goyens de Heusch, S., Het impressionisme en het fauvisme in België, Antwerpen 1988)

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