Léon Spilliaert was a man of troubling solitude and infinite perspectives. Drawing on metaphysical questions and Flemish culture, he surprises and mystifies with his uncategorisable works, inventing a symbolism of inner darkness that has marked Belgian art.

He was inspired by the pictorial works of Odilon Redon and James Ensor, as well as the writings of Émile Verhaeren and Maurice Maeterlinck. Yet although he fell under the influence of end of the century Symbolism, his work went far beyond. His wild-eyed faces flirt with expressionism; his sleek landscapes seem to tend towards minimalism.

The exhibition - the first in France for nearly 40 years - will concentrate on the years 1896 to 1919, the most intense in his creation, and will present Spilliaert’s most radical works.