Luc Tuymans facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Luc Tuymans
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Tuymans in 2009
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| Born | 14 June 1958 Mortsel, Belgium
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Carla Arocha
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Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a famous Belgian artist. He is best known for his paintings that explore how people deal with history. He often shows how we might ignore or forget important events. A big theme in his art is World War II. Tuymans became well-known when many thought painting was becoming less important because of the rise of digital technology.
His art often looks at complicated ideas, like how 'good' and 'evil' can exist together. He paints about big historical moments, like the Holocaust. But he also paints simple, everyday things, like wallpaper or Christmas decorations.
Tuymans' paintings use few colors and quick brush strokes. He often paints from photos or movie clips he finds in the news or online. He also uses his own photos and drawings. His paintings often look a bit blurry or out of focus. This blurry effect is done on purpose with paint, not by wiping away colors.
He often works in a series, where one painting leads to another. This helps him explore ideas over and over. He makes many drawings and watercolours before creating his oil paintings. But each final oil painting is finished in just one day!
Contents
Early Life and Art Inspiration
Luc Tuymans was born in Mortsel, Belgium, on 14 June 1958. His father was Belgian and his mother was Dutch. During World War II, his mother's family helped hide refugees. However, some of his father's family were thought to have supported Nazi ideas. These family stories made him think a lot about right and wrong. This topic later became a big part of his art.
He showed an interest in art from a young age. When he was eight or nine, he visited a museum in The Hague. There, he saw an abstract painting by Mondrian. He later said this was his first real art experience. He felt the "magic of art" and understood how important that painting was.
Education and Training
Tuymans started his art studies at age 18 at the Sint-Lukasinstituut in Brussels (1976–79). During this time, he traveled to Budapest and was amazed by the paintings of El Greco. He continued his studies at the National School of Visual Arts of La Cambre in Brussels (1979–80). Then he went to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1980–82). For a while, he stopped painting to focus on filmmaking. After finishing his art studies, Tuymans also studied Art history at the Free University of Brussels (1982–86).
His Paintings
Early Works (1972–1994)
During his early career, Tuymans quickly developed his painting style. He had his first solo and group art shows. His first known painting is from 1972, and his first public painting, Self-Portrait (1977), won a national competition.
From 1980 to 1985, Tuymans stopped painting to experiment with film. He made a film called Feu d’artifice (Firework). Some of his film ideas later inspired his paintings. When he started painting again in 1985, he changed his method. Since then, he has never spent more than one day on a single painting.
From the late 1970s, Tuymans' paintings often explored memories of World War II. He thought about whether art could still be made after events like the Holocaust. One of his famous works from this time is Gaskamer (Gas Chamber), painted in 1986. It's a small painting of a gas chamber at the Dachau concentration camp. He made it look simple, with muted colors, almost as if it's fading away. Other paintings from this period include Die Zeit (The Time), which combines a portrait of a Nazi figure with everyday objects. Another is Die Wiedergutmachung (The Reparation), showing the eyes of children who were victims of terrible experiments.
Tuymans also painted many portraits. These included self-portraits, imaginary people, and historical figures. His portraits often look distant and don't show much emotion. They seem to remove a person's unique qualities, making the face look like a mask. For example, Der diagnostische Blick (The Diagnostic Look) is a series from 1992. It's based on medical images of body parts from a doctor's manual.
His first exhibition in North America, called Superstition, was held in 1994. It explored how people felt skeptical and uncaring about recent historical events.
Growing Fame (1995–2006)
After 1995, Tuymans became famous around the world. He had many solo and group shows in Europe, North America, and Asia.
His 1995 exhibition Heimat (meaning 'Homeland') was a response to political events in Belgium. It criticized Flemish nationalism. He showed paintings like The Flag and A Flemish Village. He even painted the Yser Tower, a Flemish memorial. He later said he was "ashamed" to be from Antwerp because of a far-right political party.
In 1996, his exhibition Heritage in New York was inspired by the mood in the U.S. after the Oklahoma City bombing. The series showed typical American scenes, like baseball caps or Mount Rushmore. It also included a portrait of a wealthy member of the Ku Klux Klan, a racist group.
In 2000, Tuymans gained attention with his series Mwana Kitoko (Beautiful Boy). These paintings were inspired by the Belgian King's visit to the Belgian Congo in the 1950s.
At a big art show called Documenta 11 in 2002, people expected Tuymans to paint about the September 11 attacks in New York. Instead, he showed a huge, simple still-life painting. He deliberately ignored world events. He explained that he wanted to create an "anti-picture" as a reaction to the attacks.
Major art museums like Tate Modern in London (2004) and Museu Serralves in Porto (2006) held big solo exhibitions of his work.
Recent Works (2007 Onwards)
Since 2007, Tuymans has continued to have many exhibitions worldwide. His 2007 show Les Revenants focused on the social influence of the Jesuits in education. A large show of his work traveled to several cities, including Budapest and Munich (2007–2008).
In 2008, his solo show The Management of Magic explored how consumer society has become "Disney-fied." This exhibition traveled to major museums in North America from 2009 to 2011.
In 2012, Tuymans took part in an art project in Otwock, Poland. He contributed a painting called Die Nacht (2012), which referred to German history. He also placed hundreds of black balloons in the ruins of a former hospital. This building was part of the Otwock ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Its patients died or were sent to a concentration camp.
In 2016, his exhibition Intolerance in Doha, Qatar, showed new works called The Arena I–VI. These paintings depicted violence from 1942. They showed a sense of hidden anger and a group of people who seemed to be in distress.
In 2015, Tuymans was involved in a legal dispute. He used a photograph by Katrijn Van Giel for his painting A Belgian Politician (2011). A court found him guilty of copying, but he said his painting was a parody (a humorous or critical imitation). They later settled the case out of court. Many people supported Tuymans, saying his art never just copies photos. Instead, he uses them as a starting point to explore ideas.
Other Artworks
Drawings and Works on Paper
Drawing is a very important part of Tuymans' art. Sketches, watercolours, and other small works are the foundation of his ideas. For him, drawing is a way to think through an idea. He often uses simple materials and includes found elements in these works. He says drawing helps him "mentally involved in the work" and gives him "control." He also prefers to draw from memory, based on "fragmentary memory" of what he has seen.
Murals
Tuymans has created about 50 large wall paintings, called murals, since the mid-1990s. Most of these are temporary, made for specific exhibitions. He uses acrylic paint or fresco techniques directly on walls. Sometimes, he also makes textile murals from scanned drawings. He feels "much more free" when working on a wall than on a canvas.
His first permanent mural was in a café in Antwerp in 1995. Another permanent mural, Angel, was created in 2012 for the Concertgebouw Brugge. In 2013, he made two permanent murals for a theater in Dresden, Germany. His most recent permanent mural, Arena (2017), is a fresco at the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Mosaics
Tuymans has also created mosaics. His first mosaic, Dead Skull, was made in 2010 for the MAS Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp. It's a huge stone mosaic (40 square meters) in the museum square. It's based on his 2002 painting of the same name, which refers to a memorial plaque for a 16th-century painter. The mosaic is made of nearly 100,000 stones of 11 different colors. When you are on the ground, it's hard to see the skull. But the higher you go in the museum, the clearer the skull becomes.
His second mosaic, Schwarzheide, was made in 2019 for an exhibition in Venice. It was based on his 1989 painting of a German forced-labor camp. This mosaic could only be fully seen from above.
Prints
Tuymans has also experimented with printmaking since the late 1980s. He has made about 90 prints, which, like his paintings, explore how images are shared in the mass media. He uses different printing methods like photocopy, screen-printing, and lithography. He sometimes uses unusual materials like wallpaper or security glass. His printed images often look blurred or simplified, similar to his paintings. They are often based on photos that he re-photographs until much of the original detail is lost.
Other Activities
Curating Exhibitions
Tuymans is also a curator, meaning he organizes art exhibitions. In 1999, he curated Trouble Spot: Painting in Antwerp. This show featured works by about 50 artists, including famous names like Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol. He wanted to explore the "boundaries of painting" and create a conversation between different artworks.
In 2006, he organized a special event called Sirene/Alarm across many museums in Belgium. All participating museums set their alarms to go off at 3 pm, and people evacuated the buildings for 15 minutes. This event was a message for tolerance and against political extremism, racism, and violence.
He has also curated exhibitions that combine art from different cultures, like The Forbidden Empire: Visions of the World by Chinese and Flemish Artists (2007) and The State of Things: Brussels/Beijing (2010). In 2013, he curated The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium in London. His most recent curated exhibition was Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque (2018), which explored Baroque art.
Teaching and Talks
Tuymans has also taught art and given many talks. He was a guest teacher at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in the Netherlands, where he helped young painters. In 2008, he became a professor at the Städelschule. He has given lectures and interviews about his work and painting at universities and museums around the world.
He has participated in many discussions about art, its meaning, and its connection to new media. In 2001, a discussion about his exhibition Signal was held at the Wannsee Conference House in Berlin. This was a place where the plan for the murder of European Jews was made during WWII. Tuymans chose this location to make a powerful statement. He has also given talks on famous artists like Peter Paul Rubens.
Important Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
Luc Tuymans has had over 100 solo exhibitions of his paintings. His very first exhibition was in 1985 in a deserted swimming pool in Ostend, Belgium. He chose Ostend because of two painters he admired, James Ensor and Leon Spilliaert, who had a strong connection to the city. Few people saw this first show, but it was important because it was the first time he saw his work outside his studio.
His first museum exhibitions were in 1990 in Ostend and Ghent. In 1992, he became internationally recognized. He had major exhibitions and participated in Documenta 9, a big art show. In 2001, Tuymans represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale, a very important international art event.
From 2004 to 2008, his solo shows were held in major museums like Tate Modern in London and Museu Serralves in Porto. In 2009, his first big show in the U.S. opened at the Wexner Center for the Arts. It then traveled to several other American cities and finally to Brussels, Belgium.
In 2015, a large exhibition called Intolerance was held in Doha, Qatar. In 2019, his major exhibition La pelle (meaning 'The Skin') was shown at Palazzo Grassi in Venice. This show included 80 paintings from 1986 to 2019.
Group Exhibitions
Tuymans has also been part of over 350 group exhibitions. He was invited to show his work at Documenta in Kassel, Germany, in both 1992 and 2002. His art has been included in important group shows at museums like The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hayward Gallery in London, and the Dallas Museum of Art.
Where to See His Art
Many museums and public collections around the world own Luc Tuymans' paintings. Some of these include:
- 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
- Art Institute of Chicago, USA
- Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Dallas Museum of Art, USA
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA
- Tate Gallery, London, UK
Awards and Recognition
Luc Tuymans has received many awards for his art. In 2007, he was made a Commander of the Order of Leopold by the King of Belgium. In 2013, he became an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York and the Academy of Arts in Berlin.
He also has several honorary doctorates from universities, including the Royal College of Art (2015) and the University of Antwerp (2006). He won the Max Beckmann Foundation award in 2008. He was a finalist for the Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award in 2000 and won the Coutts Contemporary Art Foundation award. In 2013, he received the Flemish Culture Award for Visual Arts. In 2020, he won the Ultima award for his overall cultural achievements. He also received an award from AmfAR in 2013 for his artistic contributions to the fight against AIDS.
Personal Life
Luc Tuymans was born in Mortsel, near Antwerp, on 14 June 1958. He still lives in Antwerp today. His father was Belgian and his mother was Dutch.
In 1995, he met the Venezuelan artist Carla Arocha in Chicago. Four years later, in 1999, they got married.
See also
- List of Belgian painters
- New European Painting
