Open Window on Bosvoorde 

Curator: Rik Wouters, known for his fauvist and expressionist style, painted "Open Window on Bosvoorde" using oil paints. Editor: My initial feeling is one of pleasant disorientation. The painting teeters between observation and dream; a window isn't just a frame but a feeling. What are your first thoughts? Curator: I feel the Fauvist's desire to capture something vibrant with such loose, joyous strokes. One can imagine Wouters almost dancing as he paints, using color like melody, evoking joy with what looks like a fleeting moment, barely glimpsed. Editor: Precisely! Notice how the brushwork becomes an entity in itself. We aren’t just seeing a quaint townscape; we're observing the layering of paint, the texture, the visible process of creation—each dab applied perhaps with the handmade brushes of his time. One starts wondering, where did he source those pigments, how long did it take to grind them... Curator: That reminds me, it feels less about photographic accuracy, and more about recreating the feeling of light playing across the village. There is an almost childlike pleasure here—as if observing Bosvoorde anew. Look how shapes break into pure hues... It almost melts reality! Editor: It does blur! The emphasis on light transforms not only our perspective but also the means and tools needed for such optical representation, the kind of production supporting this artistic pursuit. And of course we cannot turn a blind eye to class; consider the privilege required to make such paintings in the first place. Curator: Right, this privilege creates space for his joyous interpretation, unburdened perhaps to play with hues, shadows, light. I feel that is a language transcending his societal conditions—a freedom of soul through artistic vision. Editor: That artistic language owes its existence to very specific and situated contexts. What you see as "soul" I interpret through access—to resources, skills, materials—in a specific, historical setting. I find it valuable, thinking not of artists as solitary genius but as connected workers participating to their cultural era. Curator: Yes! But within that setting, isn't he almost screaming his personal response? His canvas becomes a conduit where the artist and observer connect on a much deeper level than craftsmanship itself... almost transcendental, I would say! Editor: An interesting point! I hadn't looked at it from this perspective— perhaps my initial read on material considerations were too grounded. I acknowledge the expressive gesture that emerges within those constructed parameters. Curator: Likewise, I realize a pure expression has little context without an anchor to its materiality, time, place... I will remember this viewpoint going forward.