Gustave Van De Woestyne
The blind man
1910
Modern art
Van De Woestyne was superb at depicting the blind and alienated. Even his sighted figures gaze inwards. The peasants he painted keep to themselves and look like cut-outs in barren settings. Assuming there is a setting at all, because sometimes there is just a plain gold background. His heroes were Van Eyck and Bruegel, but his perception of isolation and loneliness was very modern.
