DEGOUVE DE NUNCQUES, William

Belgian painter of French birth. After the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), his parents settled in Belgium. Although self-taught, he was advised by Jan Toorop, with whom he shared a studio, and later lived with Henry de Groux (1867-1930). In 1894 he married Juliette Massin, a painter and Emile Verhaeren’s sister-in-law, who introduced him to the circle of Symbolist poets. His art, which bears the influence of poetry, transfigures reality in the sense that it affords a view of the invisible.

Degouve de Nuncques belonged to the avant-garde group Les XX and later exhibited at the Libre Esthètique. He travelled widely and painted views of Italy, Austria and France, often of parks at night. He excelled in the use of pastel. Two works, in particular, demonstrate the magical quality of his work: Pink House (1892; Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo) and Peacocks (1896; Museum of Modern Art, Brussels).