Laurent Moonens

1911-1991

He is born in 1911 in Brussels, where he spent his youth.

Very soon attracted by painting as a means of expression, he painted his first picture - a composition with flowers - at the age of twelve.

He was not yet seventeen when he first attended lectures at the "Académie des Beaux-Arts" in Brussels and then later received the highest award from the "Institut Supérieur de la Cambre", one of the major Belgian art schools. During his studies, he was already attracted by human expressions and makes regular visits in old age homes where he sketched wrinkled faces.

His first exhibition dates back to 1931. Although the works displayed expressed how shy and introverted the young artist is, the critics at the time encouraged him to go on.

Soon after, he striked up a friendship with Jean LAUDY, known as "the Great LAUDY". The prestigious senior artist gave him valuable advice, along with his taste for blooming roses, which they sometimes painedt in collaboration.

In the Thirties, MOONENS started studying at the "Institut Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs de la Cambre" in Brussels to qualify as a commercial artist.

In 1939 he was commissioned to design the Pavilion of Labor at the International Exhibition in Liège. Later in his career, he will signed the decoration of the Exhibition of the Katanga Special Committee Fiftieth Anniversary (1950) and of the Congo pavilions at the Bulawayo and Brussels exhibitions (1954 and 1958).