Paul Delvaux

Delvaux (23 September 1897 - 20 July 1994) was a Belgian painter associated with Surrealism and famous for his paintings of female nudes. 

As a young man he took music lessons that took place at the Biology laboratory, he was fascinated by the skeletons exhibited in the display cabinets. He read Jules Verne fictions and the poetry of Homer and his work tremendously influenced by these.

During the years 1916 - 1919 Delvaux studied art at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. 

His teachers were the artists: Constant Montald and Jean Delville.

In 1925 he exhibited his first solo exhibition.

His paintings of nudes in landscapes during 1925-1930, are strongly influenced by Flemish Expressionists as Constant Permeke and Gustave De Smet. 

He was also influenced by the Italian Metaphysical  artist, Giorgio de Chirico and from the Surrealist Belgian artist, Rene Magritte.

His paintings are famous for featuring woman nude with mysterious gaze and gestures, reclining in train station or wandering through classical buildings. He also combined skeletons, men or scientists inspired by Jules Verne stories.

In 1959 he executed a mural at the Palais des Congrès in Brussels, one of several large scale decorative commissions Delvaux undertook. He was named director of the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1965. In 1982 the Paul Delvaux Museum.