Twilight

Georgette Troy, Ghent
Octave Deene, Ghent
Galerie Les Contemporains, Brussels
Graaf Baudouin de Grunne, Wezembeek-Oppem
Emile Langui, Ghent
Campo Antwerp, April 1976, no. 618
Raf Van den Abeele, Sint-Martens-Latem

From 1923, Frits Van den Berghe made a deeper consideration in his work, combining a sharp analysis with a long conceptual preparation. In this way surprising scenes arise that combine aspects of reality with contemplative ideas. The painting Twilight is herefor a wonderful example. In the first place it is an ode to the country man. It is proposed that a foliage burner burn the excess foliage in the evening after a hard day's work. It is not so much the fire itself but a column of smoke that dominates the whole and divides the performance into two unequal halves. Both halves illustrate the farmer's environment: on the left a poor house, on the right a few cows. A strongly conducting painter is at work in the painting. He divides all components into a strict surface division, which is also coloristically isolated. It is striking how he frames the three cows in a straight top and bottom line; they too are an integral part of the line pattern. Van den Berghes master's hand is deeply concerned with the simple subject. The silence and tranquility of the countryside get the quality of traditional pastoral landscapes, where the day blends seamlessly into the night and the timeless world makes up the life of the rural population. The farmer's eternal connection with his immediate environment demonstrates Van den Bergh's understanding of and fascination for the cyclical existence of his inhabitants, who experience the wonderful nature in all their simplicity.

First version of The cowherd. In the final painting, in more constructive style, the girl was replaced by a boy. On 7 and 8 December 1945 a painting titled Le petit Pâtre was sold in the Galerie Georges Giroux in Brussels. Was it this canvas? The existence of a second study is not excluded (Langui 1966).
Also titled The potato burner.

1948, Ghent, Koninklijke Kunst- en Letterkring, Frits Van den Berghe, 01-14.05.1948, no 8.
1954, Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum, Frits Van den Berghe, 07-29.08.1954, no. 4.
1954, Hasselt, Zaal Onder De Toren, Frits Van den Berghe, 04-20.09.1954, no. 3.
1954, Tilburg, Raadhuis, Frits Van den Berghe, 25.09-24.10.1954, no. 4.
1966, Tervuren, H. Hartcollege, Privé-kunstbezit te Tervuren, 21.05-05.06.1966.
1973, Venlo, Cultureel Centrul, Albijn Van den Abeele en de schilders van de Leie, 05.09-04.11.1973, no. 79.
1979, Gaasbeek, Kasteel van Gaasbeek, Schilders van de Latemse School, 03.06-24.07.1979, no 18.
1993, Kortenhoef, Kunst aan de Dijk, Vlaamse expressionisten: Constant Permeke, Gust. De Smet, Frits Van den Berghe, 14-26.06.1993, no 21.
1999, Ostend, PMMK, Retrospectieve Frits Van den Berghe, 16.11.1999-13.02.2000, no. 59.
2001, Ghent/Museum voor Schone Kunsten- Deinze/MuDeL-Deurle/Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Een zeldzame weelde. Kunst van Latem en Leiestreek 1900-1930, 17.06-23.09.2001, no. 215.
2019, Gaasbeek, Kasteel van Gaasbeek, Bruegel herontdekt. Feast of fools, 07.04.2019-28.07.2019, no. 59.

Langui, E., Tentoonstelling Frits Van den Berghe, exh. cat. (Gent: Kunst- en Letterenkring, 1948), no. 8.
Haesaerts, P., Laethem-Saint-Martin. Le village élu de l'art flamand (Bruxelles: Mercatorfonds, 1965), no. 657 (ill.).
Langui, E., Frits Van den Berghe 1883-1939. Beschrijvende catalogus van zijn geschilderde oeuvre (Brussel: Laconti, 1966), no. 129 (ill.).
D'Haese, J. & H. Lampo, Albijn Van den Abeele en de schilders van de Leie, exh. cat. (Venlo: Cultureel Centrum, 1973), no. 79.
Denninger-Schreuder, C., Vlaamse expressionisten, exh. cat. (Kortenhoef: 1993), p. 34 (ill.). 
Boyens, P., G. Marquenie & R. Hoozee, Frits Van den Berghe, exh. cat. (Oostende: PMMK, 1999), p. 98, no. 59 (ill.).
Boyens, P., Een zeldzame weelde. Kunst van Latem en Leiestreek 1900-1930, exh. cat. (Gent/Amsterdam: Ludion, 2001), p. 182, no. 215 (ill.).
Boyens, P., Frits Van den Berghe (monografie) (Gent: SD&Z, 1989), pp. 179, 183, 399, no. 327 (ill.).
Huet, L. e.a., Bruegel herontdekt. Feast of Fools, exh. cat. (Gent: Snoeck Publishers, 2019), p. 59, 212 (ill.).
Pauwels, P.J.H., Comme un miroir étincelant (Sint-Martens-Latem, 2019), p. 232 (ill.).