The artist’s full name was Clément Edmond Theodore Marie Serneels. A Post-Impressionist painter, a brother of Antoine Serneels. Already considered a brilliant student under the guidance of A. Philippot, he continued his studies with Professor Alfred Bastien, director of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels where he was one of his most talented students. In 1936, Serneels was awarded a travel scholarship by the Colonial Office to visit Kivu, the former Belgian Congo. Slowly drifting across the country from Matadi to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), he took the time to paint a large number of oil paintings. Although he began as a painter of landscapes, still lifes, and occasional portraits of various kinds, he gained fame by focusing mainly on portraits of African women .

 

On his return to Brussels, he exhibited his paintings from the African period, all of which were sold, marking the beginning of his popularity. In 1939, during World War II, he settled in Congo. Then, in 1945, Clément visited South Africa and stayed for a few months in Cape Town. From 1951 to 1960, he lived beside Lake Kivu in Congo, although he continued to visit Europe and to hold exhibitions in Brussels. In 1960, he was forced to leave because of political problems and settled in Brussels, where he died in 1991.

He showed his work at some highly successful exhibitions, taking it on a tour to Mexico (Mexico City and Léopoldville) and the United States (at the Lilienfeld Gallery, New York) to Johannesburg and Houston, Texas, and then he was invited to Lisbon by the Portuguese government. His travels to Europe, Central America, and Asia broadened his artistic vision and his knowledge of the world.

 

On 25 October 1956, an article entitled “Un peintre belge” [A Belgian painter], published in the French “Journal de l’amateur d’art”, reviewed the artist’s one-man show at the Belgian gallery Europe. The exhibition that would open on November 4 of that year would finally present his work to the public of Europe, a rare opportunity for it to be seen there.

The journal article, which described the atmospheres of his landscapes splendidly, in which “The sun plays pleasantly among the trees”, focused on the quality of his painting: the sophistication of his still lifes, the opulence of the bouquets of flowers, the expressive depth of his portraits, works in which the temperament of the artist was conveyed in different ways each time.

 

The same article contained a photograph of the artist at his easel intent on painting . Thanks to this photograph, it is possible to recognize the face of the artist in the subject depicted in the painting presented here. This work, signed by the artist and dedicated to his friend Jules Croes, is a self-portrait which he seemingly gave to his friend as a present before his departure for Congo in 1936.