Peter van den Braken - Blossom

A pasty painting by Peter van den Braken.
Literature: mentioned in the catalogue 'Peter van den Braken, purebred painter & globetrotter, museum Kempenland Eindhoven', page 42.
The painting is numbered 97 on the back and titled Blossom .
The canvas is original and in good condition.

Van den Braken (Eindhoven 1896-1979) was an admirer of Vincent van Gogh. He learned the basics of painting from Jan Kruysen. However, he taught himself many painting techniques. In addition to watercolours and woodcuts, Peter van den Braken painted like a man possessed. At the age of twelve he decided to leave Brabant to travel the world to places including Brussels, Kortenhoef, Paris, London and Rome. A successful exhibition in Scheveningen in 1922 was the start of a long series of exhibitions at home and abroad. His impasto paintings are emotionally constructed from colour; composition, lines and proportions are secondary. Without hesitation he skillfully creates his work, which is sometimes robust and turbulent. This makes them expressionistic-impressionistic representations. Antoon Coolen will introduce most of his exhibitions for about ten years because the atmosphere of the paintings fits in with his own literary work. Later in his life he worked for some time in North America, Canada and Mexico City. Back in the Netherlands he worked in Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven and finally in Sterksel where an entire center is named after him. However, this center went bankrupt in 2020. He mainly painted landscapes (village views, cityscapes and harbor views) and still lifes, based on his memory and sketches. The impulsive, temperamental and restless character of the painter ensures that his work is of varying quality. Although he was a well-known artist, he did not always receive the appreciation he deserves despite his honest artistry. Almost all of Peter van den Braken's paintings have been provided with a number, title and sometimes signature on the back.