Museum Constant Permeke

Permekemuseum - Mu.ZEE

Gistelsteenweg 341, Jabbeke

At the Museum Constant Permeke, we literally take a peak inside the life and work of Constant Permeke. Tucked away among the greenery, his unique world really sucks us in.

The Museum Constant Permeke

The Permeke Museum does not only offer the opportunity of viewing the home and studio of Modernist artist Constant Permeke, visitors can also take a stroll in the vast ecological garden. In 1928, Permeke commissioned architect Pierre Vandervoort to build the mansion De vier winden (The four winds). The design was surprisingly innovative, as the house towered above the polder landscape in a functional modernist style. The artist and his family would live here from 1929 until his death in 1952. He received friends and fellow artists, and created much of his oeuvre here. Now the mansion houses a museum, where visitors get an insight into Permeke’s life and work through his art, everyday objects, archive material, photographs, films and stories.

Permekemuseum - Mu.ZEE

Farmer’s wife - Constant Permeke

In 1926, Constant Permeke lived in Ostend but often went to rural Jabbeke 16 km away, as he was taken with the affable simple life. In 1928 he settled in Jabbeke for good and sketched great numbers of everyday scenes which he then developed in large format in his studio. Apart from pencil, charcoal and pastels, he also used thinned paint which he applied with broad brush strokes over the charcoal to suggest depth. He also often combined different styles and alternated well-finished and more suggestive parts. Precisely this technique makes the Farmer’s Wife so intriguing.

About Permeke by Constant Permeke

In About Permeke, we get acquainted with the artist’s family. We see him holding a newspaper as his wife drinks her coffee and the four children are sitting round the table. At the back, a man is looking in through the door. With the light falling on the newspaper, we can clearly see the headline: About Permeke. Permeke painted this work in reaction to all the media attention he received at this time. Some of it was positive, but a lot of it was negative too. The painting has a geometric structure inspired by Cubism and Permeke entered it for the 15th Venice Biennial in 1926, his third time.

Permekemuseum - Mu.ZEE

The Chaise - Constant Permeke

A man and woman chase past in a little carriage. The horse is galloping, with powerful, tense muscles. The background is evenly painted in crisp, bright yellow. There is very little depth in this painting from 1926 and the pencil lines in the faces of the pair strike the viewer instantly. Here, Constant Permeke combined painting with drawing and contouring. He really loved experimenting, incessantly seeking and taking risks. For him, it was all about the game and the creative process. Fully in line with Modernism, he rejected all taboos and restrictions and time and time again sought ways to redefine painting as an art.