After training as a lithographer, Jean Brusselmans switched to free painting in 1904. Initially, nature in and around the Belgian Linkebeek is a source of inspiration for its well-designed, impressionist landscapes. A temporary stay in Oudegem (1914-1918) brings the painter into contact with Brabant fauvists. It is their influence that resonates in his landscapes, still lifes and marines from 1920 onwards. He gradually reduces reality to ordered, geometric patterns. The strict structure in intensive areas of color give his oeuvre its own place within the work of the Flemish expressionists.