Treasure of the month

Painting Frans Hens

KMMA Tervuren ©

Object: Frans Hens painting Station des Bangala en 1888
Materials: oil on canvas, 50x100 cm
Inventory number: HO.0.1.417
Acquisition date: 6 April 1937

 
Frans Hens (1856-1928) is known for his Scheldt River paintings. A travelling painter, he visits the Congo Free State twice, painting nature using his impressionist sensibility. In Congo, his palette brightens as he studies rainy season and dry season light. In spite of the prejudices of the day, Hens falls under the charm of Congolese societies and cultures. The human dimension appears more in his writings than in his paintings. He returns to Belgium with ethnographic and naturalistic acquisitions.

This painting represents a post, or ‘station’, in the Congo Free State (EIC), in present-day DRC Équateur Province. It was painted for a European audience. Notice the national flag, European buildings, steamships and pirogues, which were the only means of communication at the time. The painting promoted the EIC’s accomplishments, not local cultures. Currently, colonial heritage is the subject of multidisciplinary and multicultural study by experts from both North and South. Analysis considers all cultural elements and contexts.

This Hens canvas belongs to the RMCA’s collections but is not exhibited in the Museum. As a treasure of the month, it reflects the context of current reflection taking place in the Colonial History Section concerning colonial heritage (including colonial art).

More info?
 

S. Cornelis, J. Lagae, C. Dupont (uitg.), Le Congo et la Belgique. L’Art et l’Architecture dans la colonie, Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen, februari/maart 2010, special issue.
 
J. Guisset (uitg.), Le Congo et l’Art belge. Doornik: La Renaissance du Livre, 2003, blz. 156-169.

Contribution by Sabine Cornelis

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