Red Violinist

Marc Mendelson was born on 6 November 1915 in London and moved with his family to Antwerp in 1922, where he grew up and later developed his artistic career. From 1934 to 1939 he studied at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he was trained by renowned Belgian artists Gustave van de Woestyne and Isidore Opsomer. Their influence can be seen in his early figurative works, which reflect the poetic and introspective spirit of the Belgian animist tradition.

Mendelson held his first solo exhibition in Antwerp in 1942. During the Second World War, his art was considered “degenerate” by the occupying authorities, and he was briefly arrested during an exhibition in Brussels in 1943. After the war he became an important figure in the renewal of modern Belgian painting.

In 1945, Mendelson was among the founding members of the influential group La Jeune Peinture Belge, a movement that brought together progressive artists seeking to re-establish Belgium’s artistic presence on the international stage. Around this time he settled permanently in Brussels, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

Throughout his long career Mendelson explored several artistic directions. His early works were figurative and often imbued with a sense of magical realism. During the late 1940s and 1950s he gradually moved toward abstraction, experimenting with geometric compositions and later with matiérisme, incorporating textured surfaces and materials such as sand and cement into his paintings. From the 1960s onward he returned to a more personal form of neo-figuration, while also working extensively in watercolor, graphic arts, and sculpture. In his later years he once again explored more abstract compositions.

In addition to his artistic practice, Mendelson played an important role as a teacher. From 1951 to 1980 he taught screen printing at La Cambre (École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Décoratifs) in Brussels, influencing several generations of artists and designers.

His work was widely exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale (1948) and the São Paulo Biennial (1951 and 1953), and he participated in major exhibitions such as the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. In 1965 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, confirming his prominent position in Belgian art.

Mendelson also created several important public artworks, notably the mural “Happy Metro to You” (1974) in the Park metro station in Brussels, as well as monumental works integrated into architectural projects.

Marc Mendelson died on 8 December 2013 in Uccle (Brussels) at the age of 98. Today he is regarded as an important figure in 20th-century Belgian modernism, whose versatile oeuvre reflects the evolution of post-war European art while maintaining a distinctive and personal artistic language.