Executed only a few years after completing his artistic education, Compositie captures Paul Van Hoeydonck at a moment of remarkable creative freedom. Fluid ink lines intertwine with transparent washes of colour, producing a composition that balances spontaneity with structural clarity.

Although firmly rooted in abstraction, the work retains a lyrical quality that recalls movement, landscape and musical rhythm without ever becoming descriptive. Every gesture appears both instinctive and carefully considered, reflecting the artist's search for a personal visual language.

Paul Van Hoeydonck (1925–2025) studied art history in Antwerp before turning to painting, moving within a few years into geometric abstraction and co-founding the Antwerp avant-garde collective G58 with Jef Verheyen in 1958. The dawn of the Space Age redirected his imagination toward planets, cities and astronauts, and in 1971 the crew of Apollo 15 placed his sculpture 'Fallen Astronaut' on the Moon — still the only artwork ever installed beyond Earth.

Details

• Material: Watercolour and ink on paper
• Dimensions: 499 x 649 mm

This artwork forms part of the maurice verbaet collection and can be viewed in our showroom at Volkstraat 58, Antwerp.