Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans was born in 1958 in Mortsel, Belgium, he lives and works in Antwerp. Tuymans has studied at Sint-Lukasinstituut, Brussels (1976-1979); École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre, Brussels (1979-1980); Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp (1980-1982) and Vrije Universiteit, Bussels (1982-1986). He is also an Honorary Doctorate at University of Antwerp (2006); University of Arts, Poznań, Poland (2014) and Royal College of Art, London (2015).

Luc Tuymans is considered one of the most significant European painters of his generation and he has been an enduring influence on younger and emerging artists. Born and raised in Antwerp, where he lives and works, Tuymans is an inheritor to the vast tradition of Northern European painting. At the same time, as a child of the 1950s, his relationship to the medium is understandably influenced by photography, television, and cinema. Interested in the lingering effects of World War II on the lives of Europeans, Tuymans explores issues of history and memory, as well as the relationship between photography and painting, using a muted palette to create canvases that are simultaneously withholding and disarmingly stark. Drawing on imagery from photography, television, and film, his distinctive compositions make ingenious use of cropping, close-ups, framing, and Tuymans sequencing, offering fresh perspectives on the medium of painting, as well as larger cultural issues.

Photo: Alexander Salinas.