Émile Claus was born on 27 September 1849 in Waregen, Belgium. He is known as one of the main painters of the Belgian Impressionist movement and stood out for his landscapes, portraits and scenes of everyday life. Claus studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and later in Paris, where he was influenced by artists such as Monet and Pissarro.
He developed his work in a style characterised as Luminism, thus creating the artistic group Vie et Lumière (“Life and Light”) in 1904. Claus had a special affinity for depicting sunlight reflecting on water, especially in his scenes of lakes and rivers.
He died on 14 June 1924 in Astene. Today, Émile Claus is considered a key figure in 19th and early 20th century Belgian art, and his works are still admired for their luminosity.
