The Royal Museums of Fine Arts welcome two paintings by Belgian artists Meunier and Evenepoel

Two works by Constantin Meunier and Henri Evenepoel have joined the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) thanks to the Isabelle and Philippe Dewez Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF).

Meunier’s Cockfight (pictured above) is already on display at the Meunier Museum in Ixelles, the philanthropy organisation confirmed in a statement.

For the museum, the 1883 painting is the missing link in a crucial period in the artist’s career when he travelled to the Spanish city of Seville. Among its 850 works, the museum already possesses the three other works from the trip: The Tobacco Factory, The Cabaret with Flamenco Dancers and The Holy Week Procession in Seville.

Born to a poor family in Etterbeek in 1831, Meunier was a realist painter and sculptor who made an important contribution to the representation of the working classes in art. His work reflects the industrial, social and political developments of the 19th century, while offering a compassionate view of mankind.

“The painting also offers a rare insight into Meunier's creative process. It forms a crucial link between two drawings held at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and a painting in the collection of the Province of Walloon Brabant,” said the KBF.

The second acquisition, The Seine Worker (1898) (pictured above) by Evenepoel, is considered one of the most important depictions from the artist’s Parisian period. Illustrating  working class life in the French capital, it shows a man walking along the riverbank on his way to work early in the morning.

“With remarkable economy of means, Evenepoel imbues this ordinary person with striking depth. The painting is considered one of the most powerful evocations of urban life within a body of work that, while brief, is exceptionally intense,” said the KBF.

This social-realism aspect of Evenpoel’s work had up to now been absent from the museum’s collection. The painting will eventually join its permanent display and also be shown in exhibitions.

The Isabelle and Philippe Dewez Fund was established in the last few years to enrich the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts and the Ixelles Museum.

While the works become the property of the KBF, the acquisitions are carried out in full consultation with the philanthropists and the museums.

“These two acquisitions concretely illustrate the direct and tangible impact of philanthropy on the safeguarding, enrichment, and accessibility of Belgian artistic heritage,” added the KBF.

Photos: Constantin Meunier, Cockfight, 1883. Coll. King Baudouin Foundation, Isabelle and Philippe Dewez Fund, on long-term loan to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Meunier Museum), Brussels ©Gallery De Vuyst; © Henri Evenepoel, Worker by the Seine, 1898.Coll. King Baudouin Foundation, Isabelle  and Philippe Dewez Fund, on long-term loan to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels ©Gallery De Vuyst, Lokeren