The Belgian painter Désiré Piryns was a painter, draftsman and lithographer. His oeuvre shows a preference for cityscapes with figures, landscapes, figure pieces, portraits and atmospheric images. The contrast between light and shadow plays an important role, especially in works in which black and white predominate. Piryns taught at the Institut des Arts et Métiers in Anderlecht, as a teacher of drawing and crafts. He exhibited his work at the 'Salon des Printemps' in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1936. The municipality of Anderlecht owns several works by Piryns.