Frans Pieter Lodewijk van Kuyck (1852–1915)
Marais au crépuscule (Marsh at Twilight), n.d

Oil on canvas
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust

Jeffery Howe
Professor Emeritus, Art History

Van Kuyck’s Marsh conveys his keen interest in light and color. Broad, visible brushstrokes reflect his focus on the process of making art. Painted in the open air, his direct observations of nature, like the shadow cast by the small boat, are richly detailed.

Van Kuyck was born and died in Antwerp. He was first taught by his father, Louis van Kuyck, and then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp under François Lamorinière, an advocate of painting in the open air. He later became a teacher at the Academy, and served as deputy director there from 1895 until 1915. He was active in Antwerp politics and cultural affairs, and is credited with helping to establish Mother’s Day in Belgium—the first in the world—with a pamphlet published in 1913.