Victor Simonin

Still Life with a Basket of Flowers, original oil on canvas, early 20thC

Unknown

Victor Simonin was born in 1877 in Ixelles, Belgium. He was a neorealistic painter of landscapes and most importantly of still-life paintings. He was a student at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts from 1894 through 1895 and afterwards studied with master teachers and artists, A. Bastien, A. Oleffe, M. Wagemans, F. Smeers, A. Degreef and A. Pinot. At the same time that he was studying art, he was also a student of music at the Brussels Conservatory. He was gifted in both arts. Simonin's broad and spirited strokes utilized in his still life paintings emulated those of the famed artists, Vogels and Paul Hasserts. He also emulated and admired Alfred Bastien, who was one of his teachers. He was one of the founders of the elite group of Flemish painters "L'Essor." He exhibited rarely at his choice. In 1941, he was awarded the prestigious medal, "Prix A. Oleffe," named after one of his other master teachers. Simonin died in Ixelles in 1948. A retrospective of his work was shown at the "Musee d'Ixelles" in 1977 and again in 1997 at the "Centre d'Art de Rouge-Cloitre" at Auderghem.