BRAM BOGART (1921-2012)
ROOD OM WIT 1968

Bogart returned to Paris and lived there from 1951 to 1960 in an old leather warehouse on Rue Santeuil, where the Cobra artists Karel Appel, Lotti van der Gaag, and Corneille were also staying at the time. However, he did not embrace their spontaneous painting style, as he rejected the impulsiveness and chance elements inherent in it. The Parisian Art Informel, the emerging Tachisme, and the American Abstract Expressionism that had made its way over clearly inspired him more. In the warehouse on Rue Santeuil, Bogart lived on the third floor, where Dora Tuynman also had her studio. He also spent time in Rome during those years.
In 1960, he settled in Brussels and also took Belgian citizenship. There, he gained access to a spacious factory hall to paint in; nevertheless, the big city continued to oppress him. [4] Here he began creating his characteristic, massive paintings—built up in thick layers of impasto oil paint. These works were applied directly to a tightly stretched burlap canvas, so that the impasto would retain the form in which he had originally applied it. Later, he developed an extremely simplified style with paintings consisting of only a few—usually bright—monochromatic planes.