The still lifes of the Belgian Walter Elst are inspired by the work of the 17th-century Dutch masters. At a very young age he started taking lessons in landscape and portrait painting with Leon Lommaert in Antwerp. After that he was apprenticed to various still life painters. Although Elst completes a medical study, in 1984 he chooses to become an artist. Walter Elst is praised for his technical craftsmanship and sense of harmony, color and composition.