Camille Barrhelemy

CAMILLE BARRHELEMY (Belgium, 1890-1961)
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 91 x 140 cm.
In this painting of the Belgian artist Camille Barthélemy, the author transports us to a landscape of Moorish landscape bathed by the golden light of the desert. With a marked Orientalist sensibility, an aesthetic current widespread in 19th and early 20th century Europe, Barthélemy depicts a scene that, without necessarily being documentary, strongly evokes the exotic imaginary of North Africa or the Near East. At the center of the composition stands a ruined adobe structure, with a large central arch that suggests an ancient gateway to a city or walled enclosure. The warmth of the earth, ochre and reddish tones, together with the palm trees against a stormy sky, creates an enveloping atmosphere, dense in chromatic nuances and full of suggestion.
In the foreground, a group of women covered with white cloaks slowly advance along a winding path. Their presence introduces a human and narrative dimension to the scene, while providing a chromatic contrast against the earthy surroundings. These figures, treated with a loose but firm brushstroke, do not seek psychological individualization, but function as elements that reinforce the contemplative and evocative character of the work. In the background, another figure on a donkey or camel rides into the arch of the ruin, adding spatial depth to the composition and completing the sensation of a silent, almost ritualistic transit.
Camille Barthélemy was a Belgian artist; an engraver, painter and designer, he lived and worked in Chiny and Chameleux. His drawing teacher at the local school, Nestor Outer, noticed his talent for drawing early on and encouraged him to pursue artistic studies. From 1906 to 1914, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and made his debut with decorative painters. He practiced painting from 1916, but also devoted himself to teaching drawing at the Secondary School of Schaerbeek and Diest.
Initially attracted by Flemish landscapes and impressionism, he gradually returned to painting the Ardennes with bright colors and geometric shapes. The exhibition L'Ardenne sous la neige (Brussels, 1931) established him as one of the best painters of the region. However, he moved away from it and settled in Chiny and devoted himself to painting landscapes of Gaumes.