GHENT.- This autumn, the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK) presents the poetical world of the Impressionist artist Jenny Montigny from Ghent, one of the most remarkable figures of her generation. The exhibition brings together a rich and diverse body of work, revealing Montigny as an independent painter, pastellist, draughtswoman and etcher.
Over the course of more than forty years, Jenny Montigny (Gent 1875-Deurle 1937) developed a diverse body of work in which light, colour and human presence are fundamental for her artistic practice. Her paintings, drawings, prints and pastels testify to a keen eye for the world around her and to a lasting fascination with everyday life: children at school, villagers working in the fields, mothers caring for their children, ladies strolling in the park, family members on the banks of the River Lys, or flowers from her own garden. The rhythm of daily existence lies at the heart of her work. Sunlight plays a key role in it.
This exhibition traces Montigny’s artistic trajectory through the major themes that occupied her. It takes us from her youth in Ghent to the rural surroundings of the River Lys region, from her life in Deurle to the war years in London and back again. Her depictions of rural and outdoor life, motherhood and domestic space are represented alongside her still lifes and her incisive observations of the war years and school time.
A broad selection of her work has been brought together from various museum collections, but above all from numerous private collections. The exhibition invites you to rediscover an artist who, in the words of her contemporaries, succeeded in capturing "the sun and life".
The fact that this exhibition is being held at the MSK makes it particularly symbolic. According to accounts, the sixteen-year-old Montigny visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, where she was deeply impressed by The Skaters by Emile Claus. This encounter is said to have played a decisive role in her choice to pursue a career as an artist.
Curators: Dr. Johan De Smet (MSK) en Prof. Dr. Marjan Sterckx (UGent)
Assisted by: Mieke Ackx en Johan Cauwels
Jenny Montigny (Ghent, 1875–Deurle, 1937) was one of the most distinctive Belgian Impressionists of her generation. Over more than forty years, she developed a varied body of work in painting, drawing, pastel and printmaking, with light, colour and everyday human life at its centre.
Her subjects came largely from the world around her: children at school, rural workers, mothers and children, people relaxing along the River Lys, interiors, gardens and flowers. Sunlight was especially important to her work, and she became known for capturing both the brightness of outdoor life and the rhythms of ordinary daily experience.
Montigny trained with Emile Claus from 1894 and gradually developed an artistic language of her own. After exhibiting publicly from 1902, she showed her work in cities including Brussels, Paris, Venice and Cairo. She later settled in Deurle, where the countryside, the River Lys and local village life became major sources of inspiration.
Her work also reflects the disruption of the First World War. After fleeing to London in 1914, she remained there until 1919, painting life in parks while also creating powerful drawings and prints of wounded Belgian soldiers in hospital. These works focus less on battle itself than on vulnerability, care and the human consequences of war.
Motherhood, childhood and school life were recurring themes. Montigny often depicted close relationships between adults and children and paid particular attention to movement, gesture, atmosphere and shared experience rather than formal portraiture.
In her later years, flower still lifes became increasingly important. Even in these quieter compositions, she emphasized colour, light and vitality rather than botanical precision.
