The Pond in Ixelles

Guillaume Vogels was a pioneering Belgian Impressionist whose work anticipated the international movement in Belgium and influenced the XX group with which he exhibited. His depiction of the Étang d'Ixelles, a lake in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles, painted in 1888, shows his mature ability to capture light reflecting off still water in the manner he had absorbed from direct study of French Impressionism. Vogels had little formal training and worked with an instinctive directness that distinguished his paintings from more academic Belgian contemporaries. This intimate urban landscape represents the kind of everyday subject the Belgian modernists elevated to serious artistic consideration.

Vogels applies paint in short, varied strokes that break up reflections into constituent touches of color — the classic Impressionist approach to water. The palette is cool and silvery, with blues and greens predominating, punctuated by warm reflected tones. The composition is horizontal, emphasizing the reflective surface.