Installation view Léon Spilliaert, David Zwirner, Paris, 15 January–28 March 2026. Courtesy David Zwirner
Today, perhaps the best place to find silence and a peace tinged with melancholy in a chaotic world could be in a Léon Spilliaert painting. The small, but beautiful Spilliaert exhibition at David Zwirner’s, in Paris, set back from the noisy Marais neighborhood, is a delight. One of his most famous works, La Courbe de la Digue (The Bend of the Promenade), from 1908, welcomes visitors to the gallery. They expect to see more of these dark and enigmatic works done in India ink and brush on paper, reflection of an unquiet mind. All his life, Léon Spilliaert (1881-1946) suffered from stomach ulcers and could not find sleep. At night, he wandered around Ostend, his seaside hometown. At night, the world comes to us in a completely different way. Our consciousness is affected by darkness. Many of the artist’s enormous production - more than 4,500 works - depict the world through his inner turmoil. Spilliaert’s life overlapped with the life of Freud and, even if he was not a reader of Freud's work, the father of psychoanalysis’ ideas were present in the culture of the time.
But - and this is a beautiful surprise - the gallery is showing another side of the Belgian painter. The works are more personal, more delicate, the expression of a less troubled side of the painter. These works are an echo of the work Spilliaert did for his father as a young adult. Spilliaert’s father, who had a perfume shop, had his son design the labels for the perfumes he made. These commercial illustrations were the seeds of his later works. One painting at Zwirner’s represents a water pitcher on a bedside table (Carafe d’Eau sur la Table de Nuit), another, a yellow flask and a mortar (Flacon et Mortier Jaunes), a landscape under the snow with ivy piercing the snow (Paysage de Neige, Lierre & Arbres), or green tree trunks (Les Troncs Verts), as if at nighttime. The gallery also presents 2 self portraits of the artist, the most famous being Autoportrait au Gilet Jaune (Selfportrait with Yellow Waistcoat).
In Léon Spilliaert’s landscape scenes, women are just shapes. We see them from behind. These women usually are looking towards the sea, waiting for the fishermen with their night catch. Zwirner’s show has 3 very delicate portraits of women very different from his China Ink silhouettes. There’s the lovely profile of a young woman absorbed in needlework (La Couture), and a nude under a snowy tree with a red moon (Nu féminin sous des arbres enneigés au clair de lune rouge), and Princess Madeleine. Of course, these portraits could not be confused with a work by Ingres. Each of these portraits is suggested, almost evanescent. In he nude under a snowy tree is barely visible. In Spilliaert’s work, women were either dark shapes seen from behind or transparent beings just barely suggested. They are just a presence. They are in agreement with the artist’s other works, highly influenced by the dreamworld.
The peaceful and contemplative atmosphere of the gallery on the top floor of the Zwirner gallery is the perfect setting to fully appreciate and enjoy the delicate works by this great artist who did not belong to any specific school, but whose style is instantly recognizable all over the world.
– Jean-Sébastien Stehli
Léon Spilliaert. David Zwirner. Until March 25. davidzwirner.com
