Artists on the West Coast: from Nieuwpoort via Koksijde to De Panne 1830-1975

On the West Coast – the area between the IJzer estuary and the French border – the development of tourism started more slowly than elsewhere on our coast and that was a blessing for artists of all kinds. With the greatest passion they depicted the incomprehensible diversity of the maritime climate, described with empathy the hard life of the fishing population, and sang in a colourful way about the holiday atmosphere at sea. Despite two World Wars, new artists continued to visit the area: some as holidaymakers, others in a permanent way. They were writers such as Emile Verhaeren, Willem Elsschot or Jean Cocteau, painters such as Louis Artan or Paul Delvaux, sculptors such as George Grard or Roel D'Haese, and also composers such as Charles Gounod. More than a hundred years of artistic activity have put De Panne, Koksijde, Sint-Idesbald, Oostduinkerke and Nieuwpoort on the map of art history, in diverse and surprising ways.