Valerius De Saedeleer

Born: 1867

Death: 1941

Biography:

Valerius de Saedeleer or Valerius De Saedeleer was a Belgian landscape painter, whose works are informed by a symbolist and mystic-religious sensitivity and the traditions of 16th-century Flemish landscape painting. He was one of the main figures in the so-called first School of Latem which in the first decade of the 20th century introduced modernist trends in Belgian painting and sculpture.
Valerius de Saedeleer was born in Aalst, Belgium as the son of a small businessman who operated a soda and soap making factory. As a result of conflicts with his parents and problems at school, he left school at age fifteen and was forced by his father to study an acceptable profession. To this end, he was employed as an apprentice at a Ghent weaving workshop and took classes in weaving at an industrial school in Ghent. Without his parents' knowledge he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, where he met Theo van Rysselberghe and George Minne.
Unhappy with the academic teaching at the Ghent Academy, he moved to Brussels where he studied for four years with the impressionist landscape painter Franz Courtens. He then started working as an independent artist. In his early work, the artist remained indebted to his teacher Courtens and was influenced by Emile Claus. This showed he still searching for his own style.
On 14 November 1889 the young artist married in Aalst Clementina 'Clemmeke' Limpens (1867-1930), a grocer's daughter from Erembodegem, near Aalst. They had five daughters, of which the second, Elisabeth de Saedeleer (1902-1972), became an artist in her own right. The father of de Saedeleer's wife gave her a large sum of money as dowry. The young couple used the funds to establish a grocery in Blankenberge. The bankruptcy that followed quickly led to the couple's wandering and destitute existence.
They lived for short periods in Blankenberge, Wenduine, Damme and Ghent. In 1892 the couple lived in Afsnee, near Ghent, where de Saedeleer met Albijn Van den Abeele. Albijn Van den Abeele was the town clerk of Sint-Marten-Latem (often referred to by its shorter form 'Latem') and an amateur painter. He arranged for cheap lodging for artists in Sint-Marten-Latem and thereby supported the launch of one of the most important artistic movements in early 20th century Belgium. From April to October 1893 de Saedeleer lived in Sint-Martens-Latem. Here he reconnected with his friend George Minne and met the young student and aspiring poet Karel van de Woestijne. Between 1895 and 1898 de Saedeleer and his wife lived in Lissewege where they raised chickens.
In 1898 de Saedeleer moved back to Sint-Martens-Latem. There he formed part of the first artist colony of the village, together with Gustave van de Woestijne (the brother of Karel van de Woestijne) and George Minne. This group of artists were later referred to as the first School of Latem. The first School of Latem comprised mainly artists who had moved to the countryside in search of a close contact with the soil, to discover a primitive world untainted by modern civilization. There they hoped to find values such as integrity, spontaneity and simplicity. In their quest for that purity they re-examined the art of the old masters. They were influenced by the symbolism that sought to imbue reality with values. They were also inspired by a Christian worldview bordering on the mystical. The painters moved away from the then popular luminism of Emile Claus and his followers and turned towards a more sombre, sober palet, with influences of late Medieval Flemish painting. Around 1905 other artists would move to Sint-Martens-Latem. These artists, the most notable of whom included Constant Permeke, Albert Servaes and Gustave de Smet, are referred to as the second School of Latem. They started out as impressionists but would develop towards an expressionist idiom in reaction to their experiences in World War I.
Despite the success of a first exhibition in 1901 in Aalst, de Saedeleer struggled to live solely from his art and was forced to raise poultry for a living. The next year he visited the Exposition des primitifs flamands à Bruges, which left a lasting impression and influence on his work. In 1903, he exhibited his landscapes at the Salon in Paris, where he was influenced by the works of Émile-René Ménard. The same year he converted to Christianity. From 1904-1905 onwards, de Saedeleer found his own style. His work started to show a synthetic, purified vision. His landscapes no longer referenced time or space. He represented the still nature in a composed landscape which was almost always limited by a low horizon. The surface of his canvases was smoothed and he used a soft harmony of colours. The landscapes of this time have a sublime, almost unreal sense of space. In these works the artist was clearly engaged in a symbolistic search for the soul of the landscape, likely under the influence of his conversion to Christianity. He often painted winter landscapes.

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