David Oyens artwork • painting • previously for sale A town view, France

David Oyens and his twin brother Pieter mainly painted subjects from the immediate vicinity of their daily lives as artists. The scenes are famously recorded in their joint studio. Their work is virtuoso, painted with a firm and lively touch and often depicts a true 'joie de vivre'. The brothers moved to Brussels in 1860 for their education, where they would settle permanently a few years later. For a long time they painted in the same style and the same subjects, in line with current developments in Belgian modern art and influenced by the vision of La Société Libre des Beaux-Arts. This Brussels artists' association, founded in 1868, advocated artistic freedom with regard to style and subject, and desired the imagination of 'la vie moderne'.