Tribute to my grandma
The Grandma Show, searching for my grandma
Let’s do what we can to bring change and improvement to the world. We need to make something of our lives and take our happiness into our own hands. Let’s start close by: in our own garden.
My bomma, Monique Vermeire (1938) has been painting all her life despite having five children at a young age, which was not so unusual at the time, and two of which were twins.
After diving into the photos of my grandparents, I noticed that my grandmother was painting or drawing in almost every photo, in every country, for more than 60 years.
Even now she is still painting every day in her little studio.
My grandmother has organised more than 60 exhibitions and has sold a great number of works.
My grandfather, Wilfried De Roeck, was the frame-maker on duty, making perfectly cut passe-partouts and golden baroque frames.
Her oeuvre is immense and keeps expanding every day.
One summer, after having painted frescoes in the attic at the age of 18, she caught the eye of a painting professor and, after much insistence, was granted permission to go to the Academy in Brussels, where she was immediately allowed to go to the 6th year (in those days that was still the case).
Unfortunately, she had to quit the training early because she fell in love with an artist, unacceptable according to her strict parents, and certainly not for a young woman at that time.
After that, she went her own way. Everything comes out of her imagination, you could call her a kind of outsider artist, detached from fashions and trends, but following her own feelings.
There are several recurring themes in her work, including flowers, Ensorian scenes, visions and pure fantasies.
I have become interested in her gardens, her imaginary dream worlds where it is pleasant to linger.
I would like to let the older works of my grandmother speak for themselves with works of young artists, so as to open a dialogue between generations and to do so around a common theme.
I chose several female artists from different backgrounds who, in their own way, contribute to their own garden in order to make this world a better place.
When asked what inspires my bomma, Monique Vermeire, she says:
“Dearest, I am always inspired by many circumstances of life! Everything comes from my inner impulse! When I see a beautiful bouquet, harbour, landscape etc. a firework enters me! I am influenced by many artists!
My favourite is Bonnard”.
— Fleur De Roeck