Walter Vaes was born in Antwerp but had a wealth of contacts in Holland. During the First World War he took refuge in Veere, where he painted landscapes and his first still lifes of flowers and animals. His impartial studies of nature and impressionistic brushwork were novel in his day, and people admired his lush, saturated colours, seeing them as emotions expressed in ‘the song of colour’. In the course of his life Vaes also took trips to Venice and the Middle East and painted the landscapes there.