Michaël Borremans

b. 1963

Belgian artist Michaël Borremans was born in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. He received his M.F.A. from Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst in Ghent, where he currently lives and works.

Originally trained as a photographer, Borremans turned his attention to drawing and painting in the mid 90s. Best known for his oil paintings, Borremans’ technique draws on 18th century art, as well as the works of Édouard Manet, Degas and Diego Velázquez. He blends the traditions of the past with the anxieties of the modern psyche to create seductive and disturbing mindscapes, somewhere between myth and realism.

His work is held in public collections internationally, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Cleveland Museum of Art; Dallas Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

“[The romantic attitude is] one level in my work that is significant and important to me. That’s why a portrait of mine can be perceived as a landscape, because it also appeals to the subconscious. The work is never literal, it can never be perceived that way.” – Michaël Borremans