Louis Van Lint

Louis Van Lint (December 26, 1909 – December 27, 1986) was a Belgian painter, major figure of the Belgian post-war abstraction.

Biography
Louis Van Lint studied painting at the Academy of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (Brussels) under Henry Ottevaere and Jacques Maes until 1939. He studied sculpture and architecture as well.

His early work reflects a traditional figurative painting style with a unique sense of color. In 1940 he founded the group "La Route Libre" with Gaston Bertrand and Anne Bonnet. His art was influenced to some degree by the animist movement, but he eventually broke away with the presentation of his painting, The Flayed Body (L'Ecorche, 1943), a shocking expression of his wish for more artistic freedom that consequently sounded a revolt against animism.

As his style matured, he switched to abstraction in which he excelled as colorist and master of form.

After World War II he co-founded The Young Belgian Painters (La Jeune Peinture Belge) with Gaston Bertrand, Anne Bonnet and some others.

Van Lint experimented with geometric abstraction for a decade, and then, influenced by the French painter Bazaine, he started his lyrical abstraction period. He participated in the demonstrations and exhibitions of the CoBrA group. In 1958, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation gave him a prize and in 1960 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. In the 1960s, he introduced Hergé to abstract painting and provided him with private lessons for one year.

He has long been represented in Belgian section in outstanding exhibitions of contemporary painting and his work is held by several museums all over the world such as the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, the Guggenheim and the Brooklyn museums in New York, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the São Paulo Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil.

Van Lint collector
All along his life, Van Lint collected antique tools chosen for their harmonious shapes. Part of the collection decorated a wall of his living room and aroused the curiosity and interest of many famous guests.

Exhibitions

 * Venice Biennale, 1948.
 * International Watercolor Exhibition, Fourteenth Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1948.
 * São Paulo Biennale, 1951-1953.
 * Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1952.
 * 7 Belgian artists, Tokyo, 1952.
 * 7 Belgian artists, Duk-Soo Palace, Seoul, 1952.
 * 2nd Sâo Paulo Biennial, Museu de Arte Moderna, Sâo Paulo, 1953.
 * Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1954.
 * L’image de Lille, Palais de Chaillot, Paris, 1958.
 * Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1958.
 * A few Belgian artists since Ensor, New York, 1958.
 * Documenta 2, Documenta, Cassel, 1959.
 * 5th Sâo Paulo Biennial, Museu de Arte Moderna, Sâo Paulo, 1959.
 * The Arts of Belgium 1920-1960, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1960.
 * Twenty Contemporary Painters from Phlippe Dotremont Collection Brussels, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1959.
 * Tokyo Biennale, 1961.
 * First Midwestern Exhibition of Belgian Painters, The Arts Club & The Art Gallery of University Notre-Dame, Chicago, 1961.
 * First Midwestern Exhibition of Belgian Painters, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, 1962.
 * First Midwestern Exhibition of Belgian Painters, The University Gallery of Minnesota, 1962.
 * Belgian drawings from Ensor to Delvaux, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1962.
 * Joven Pintura Belga, Sala de expociones de la direccion general de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 1962.
 * Tokyo Biennale, 1965.
 * International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, 1967.
 * Belgian Art 1945-1970, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico, 1970.
 * Cobra Hasta 12 Años Despues: En La Coleccion Karel Van Stuijenberg, Museo de arte contemporáneo, Santiago, et Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, 1994.
 * The Flemish and Ostend painting, Venice, 1997.
 * From Cobra to abstraction. The Thomas Neirynck Collection, Paris, 2006.
 * Cobra Passages – The Neyrinck collection, BAM, Mons, 2008.
 * BRAFA, 25th anniversary of the King Baudouin Foundation, Brussels, 2012
 * Kandinsky & Russia, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, 2013
 * Around Louis Van Lint, Pierre Hallet Gallery, Brussels, 2013
 * Belgian geometrical abstractions. From 1945 to the present days, BAM, Mons, 2014.
 * The Belgian self-portraits of the Uffizi Uffizi Gallery, Florence, 2014.