Léon Spilliaert

Royal Academy of Arts, London

NOW CLOSED

The Absinthe Drinker (detail; 1907), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: © Studio Philippe de Formanoir

The self-taught painter’s eerie landscapes and brooding self-portraits were inspired by Nietzsche and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as by long night-time walks along the Belgian coast. This first UK survey places these early representations of solitude alongside Spilliaert’s later, more tranquil nature studies. Find out more from the Royal Academy’s website.

Preview the exhibition below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Self-portrait (1907), Léon Spilliaert.

Self-portrait (1907), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence

A Gust of Wind (1904), Léon Spilliaert.

A Gust of Wind (1904), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: Hugo Maertens; © www.lukasweb.be – Art in Flanders VZW

Woman at the Shoreline (1910), Léon Spilliaert.

Woman at the Shoreline (1910), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: © Cedric Verhelst

The Absinthe Drinker (1907), Léon Spilliaert.

The Absinthe Drinker (1907), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: © Studio Philippe de Formanoir

Beech Trunks. Shadows (1945), Léon Spilliaert.

Beech Trunks. Shadows (1945), Léon Spilliaert. Photo: © Cedric Verhelst