"Woluwe Park" - Hervé Crespel
Oil on canvas, 30cm x 24cm



Woluwe or Woluwe-Saint-Pierre is a Dutch/French community, one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussel Capital. Similar to La Jolla, CA in its spacious rolling landscape and luxurious housing, Woluwe is probably best known for its Tervuren Avenue: a vast tree-lined boulevard which is often used for temporary outdoor sculpture installations. One of the more memorable expositions was by the French artist Bernard Venet, large forged steel "Curly-Q's" that spiraled down the parkway only to be toilet-papered the next evening by young vandals.

Woluwe Park was built around the end of the 19th century and is recognized for its large sequoias, cypresses and abundant wildlife. Within the city of Woluwe is the Palais Stoclet, commissioned by Adolphe Stoclet and built between 1905 and 1911 by the architect Josef Hoffmann - one of many exquisite manors that can still be seen there today. Gustav Klimt was also commissioned to do paintings and mosaics for the Stoclet palace.

Hervé Crespel's "plein air" paintings of Woluwe Park represent a new direction in imagery for his work, while retaining the solid brushwork, color and abstract shapes and forms that are found in previous canvases. Nature, while plenty of it can be found in the heart of Brussels, is rarely seen in such vivid greens, yellows, sumptuous inky blacks, and royal purple shadows that Crespel brings together in these pieces.

When the sun is out in Brussels, and the rays are illuminating everything before your eyes, you'd better go out and paint it. KF