Clement Edmond Theodore Marie SERNEELS (1919 – 1991)
Proteas II
1968
oil on canvas
92 x72 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Clément Edmond Theodore Marie Serneels was a Post-Impressionist painter, who studied at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
In 1936, Serneels was awarded a travel scholarship by the Colonial Office to visit Kivu in the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). As he travelled across the country from Matadi to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), he painted numerous oil paintings. On his return to Brussels, he exhibited these paintings, all of which were sold, marking the beginning of his popularity.
In 1939, during World War II, he settled in Congo.
Then, in 1945, he visited South Africa and stayed for a few months in Cape Town. He had sell-out exhibitions in both Cape Town and Johannesburg.
From 1951 to 1960, he lived beside Lake Kivu in Congo, although he continued to visit Europe and to hold exhibitions in Brussels. In 1960, he was forced to leave because of political problems and settled in Brussels, where he died in 1991.
He showed his work at numerous successful exhibitions in cities as far afield as Mexico City, New York City, Johannesburg, Houston, and Lisbon. His travels to Europe, Central America, and Asia broadened his artistic vision and his knowledge of the world.