Hofstraat in Ostend

No image available

1908

Léon Spilliaert

(Belgian, 1881–1946)

Culture

Belgium

Medium

India ink, wash, brush and colored pencil on paper

Measurements

Sheet: 63.8 x 48.9 cm (25 1/8 x 19 1/4 in.); Framed: 87.6 x 72.4 x 7.6 cm (34 1/2 x 28 1/2 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation 2025.196

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Spilliaert created two nearly identical drawings titled Hofstraat in Ostend this year, with this version distinguished by the evocative dot of light at the sheet’s center.

Description

Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert was known for giving everyday subjects a distinctive sense of mystery. He was largely self-taught and worked for most of his life in Ostend, his hometown, located on the remote North Sea coast of Belgium. Hofstraat in Ostend was created during a period in 1908 when Spilliaert rented a small studio, allowing him to observe the port nearby. The drawing is one of numerous works created around this time that reconsidered perspective, exaggerating the alleys and long promenades for which Ostend was known. Hofstraat, the subject of the work, was a short alley used by fishermen that led to Ostend’s costal walkway, and in his depiction of this recognizable locale Spilliaert evoked its strangeness and melancholy.