Philippe Vandenberg

Vandenberg's artistic journey flourisheв through the breaking of artistic boundaries. His body of work resists simple classification, effortlessly shifting between abstraction and figuration. With fearless exploration, Vandenberg skillfully navigateв the realms of the personal and the political.

Biography of Philippe Vandenberg

Philippe Vandenberghe was born in 1952 and raised in Sint-Denijs-Westrem, a village near Ghent. Coming from a bourgeois family, Vandenberg grew up bilingual, speaking both French and Dutch. Later, he rebelled against his family background and changed his surname to Vandenberg.

From a young age, he developed a daily drawing habit. His teenage visits to the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent left a profound impact on him.

Between 1970 and 1972, the artist pursued studies in literature and art history at Ghent University before transitioning to full-time enrollment at the Royal Academy of Art of Ghent in 1972. In 1976, a year before completing his degree, he married Véronique D’Heygere, who later became his favorite model for portraying the female nude in his paintings.

In 1978, Vandenberg traveled to the US. During his trip to New York, he encountered the works of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.

The resurgence of interest in painting at the start of the 1980s, coinciding with the rise of the Neue Wilde movement in Germany and the Transavanguardia movement in Italy, propelled Vandenberg's work into the spotlight. 

In 1982, Vandenberg underwent a significant reassessment of his artistic approach. Influenced by the intense emotion of the Old Masters and the spatial depth found in the Abstract Expressionist movement, he embarked on creating what he termed his "Splinter Paintings". In these works, he dismantled the human figure from his crucifixions into black and white shapes arranged in rhythmic grids. His subsequent works from this period are characterized by vigorous brushstrokes, oscillating between expressive figuration and abstraction.

In 1988, the artist journeyed to the Southwest America. During this time, he held exhibitions in France, the United States, and the Netherlands, garnering significant attention from collectors for his paintings. By 1989, he began incorporating references to global politics into his artwork, including symbols like swastikas, portraits of political or religious figures.

During the early 1990s, Vandenberg embarked on travels throughout Europe, particularly visiting cathedrals. The influence of Christian iconography became more pronounced in his work during this period. In the mid-1990s, Vandenberg frequently stayed in Marseille and journeyed to destinations including Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, and Cuba. The religious and cultural customs of these countries were extensively documented in numerous sketchbooks, playing a significant role in shaping his artistic repertoire.

In 2000, he returned to the Royal Academy of Ghent for a one-year teaching stint. Battling depression and substance abuse, he was hospitalized in 2001.

Relocating from Ghent to Brussels in 2005, Vandenberg purchased a studio in Molenbeek. This marked the beginning of another phase characterized by monochromatic works, initially featuring layers of grey, orange, and yellow paint. Letters and words resurfaced on these monochrome canvases. Despite continuing to explore alternating cycles of geometric, figurative, and monochromatic themes, the boundaries between these styles began to blur: letters transformed into geometric grids, abstract compositions were interrupted by figures, and monochromes served as backdrops for textual elements.

Vandenberg's final overseas exhibition took place at the Envoy Gallery in New York in 2008. Tragically, Vandenberg took his own life in 2009. Since his passing, several exhibitions have honored his legacy in galleries and museums, including Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg, Grimm Gallery in Amsterdam, Hauser & Wirth in New York, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde in Antwerp, Museum De Pont in Tilburg, among others.