Paul Gosselin

Untitled, Paul Gosselin

I've long held that the best artists are the most versatile artists. That is to say, they can and do paint a broad variety of subject content, and do so pretty much equally well in each area. It's a goal toward which I've long striven, and I like to think with some degree of success (I'll probably strain my shoulder patting myself on the back). You'd need to check the broad sampling of my work at www.jimlanart.com to be the judge of that. Coming from me, such a verdict would be somewhat biased.

 

21st-century as compared to the 16th-century

There are, of course, a number of artists more versatile than I. One of them is the Belgian painter, Paul Gosselin. When I started looking at his work I was mystified as to what era he belonged. And inasmuch as he is a living artist, born in 1961, there was not a tremendous volume of biographical material on him. I was seeing art that at times looked as if it came from the 15th-century Northern Renaissance as in Gosselin's Tower of Babel (above) as compared to that of Pieter Bruegel just below it.

 

Skaters on the River Leie, Paul Gosselin

Yet Gosselin's Skaters on the River Leie (above) would suggest a painting from the Dutch "Golden Age" of the 17th-century; yet, I found a cartoon (bottom) mercilessly lampooning Napoleon Bonaparte, which would place Gosselin in 18th-century France. One of my favorites, a woodland pastoral scene (top) appeared to be from the late-19th-century. But then, judged by his expressionist self-portraits, would place him in the early years of the 20th century. I think you can see my point; the man's versatility extends well beyond content to that of styles.

 

Gosselin's painting styles span several centuries.

Still-life with Flowers,
Paul Gosselin

Paul Gosselin was born in 1961 (56 years ago) in the Belgian city of Menen. Gosselin's versatility includes not just historic styles but a number of media as well--oils, acrylics, watercolor, drawing, pastels portraits, along with animals, city views, landscapes, still lifes, genre scenes, mythological and religious com-positions. It's virtually impossible to classify Gosselin by style; he encom-passes so many--Realism, Impression-ism, Expressionism, Pointillism, Symbol-ism, and Oriental styles. Trained at the Academy of Kortrijk, Gosselin is regarded as one of Belgium's best artists, pro-ducing technically brilliant paintings. A member of the Royal Guild of St. Luke of Kortrijk, he has works in museums in Amsterdam, Brussel, Kortrijk, Menen, Yp-res, and St-Ydesbald.


Lady with Masks--Symbolism
The Juwelry Box--Orientalism

Napoleon, Paul Gosselin