Cart
0
0.00 €
About René Heyvaert
René Heyvaert (1929 - 1984) holds a singular place within Belgian post-war art. Trained as an architect at Sint-Lucas in Ghent, he was deeply influenced by international modernist movements of the time. In the 1950s he co-founded an architecture practice with Olivier Nowé, designing socially engaged and functional modernist homes. His early career was marked by geometric ideas and international projects, including a commission in Congo. Chronic illness, however, would shape the rest of his life and eventually lead him to shift from architecture to visual art. By the late 1960s, Heyvaert turned entirely to art, working from home out of necessity. His practice moved between drawing, painting, and object-making, always marked by radical clarity and uncompromising simplicity. Using modest, everyday materials, paper, wood, household objects, he created works that were at once fragile and rigorous.
Actions such as folding, wrapping, or binding became central gestures, transforming the ordinary into poetic statements. Heyvaert's art resonated with the languages of conceptual and minimal art, yet remained deeply personal. His objects and drawings explored the tension between nature and culture, body and structure, communication and silence. To him, art was not about representation but about presence, an intimate attempt to connect with his surroundings despite illness and isolation. During his lifetime he was recognized by peers such as Raoul De Keyser and Werner Cuvelier, though broader institutional recognition only came after his untimely death in 1984. Today, Heyvaert is regarded as a key figure of the Belgian post-war avant-garde, admired for the purity, vulnerability, and intensity of his artistic language.