At home with an M-art patron The collection by Fred and Simone

At home with an M-art patron

The collection by Fred and Simone

Fred Van Leuven (72) and Simone Walravens (70) have built up a beautiful and extensive collection over the years. It consists mainly of Belgian art, but that was certainly not planned. 'We just buy what we like. Very spontaneous and organic.'

Fred: "Hard to say exactly where my interest in art came from. As a child, I loved to draw and do crafts, it has always been there. My father was a clerk at the RVA, and I am the oldest of four children. We were not very well off, so we even made our own toys. We put them together with whatever we could get our hands on. A matter of trying it out and seeing what works and what does not. Trust me: blackthorn wood for a bow, that worked!"

Alzheimer Research

"As a professor at KU Leuven, Center for Human Heredity, I mainly did research on Alzheimer's disease. I am also the co-founder of three spin-offs: reMYND here in Leuven, ACImmune in Lausanne and ALSaTech in Boston. Since 2013 I have been emeritus and I have enjoyed it more than expected. The spin-offs still ask me for information and advice sometimes, and I also do peer reviews of papers and projects. But other than that, I am pretty much in charge of my schedule."

Beautiful Things

"We are not true art collectors. We just love beautiful things: bonsais, cars, weapons, books and especially graphic art. I was allowed - in inverted commas - to travel frequently for my academic research: congress, workshop, PhD, EU project, project-panel, advisory board... Sometimes with Simone, and we enjoyed visiting museums, exhibitions, studios or art shops. Those were really trips for us. Other than that, I almost never took a vacation."

"We did not really start buying art until the early nineties, when the boys had graduated and we had a few pennies to spare. Our first two purchases were lithographs by Delvaux. I really like his work: that stylized combination of trains, female figures, and melancholy... His museum in Sint-Idesbald is a must."

“We acquired those two lithographs at an auction in Brussels. We go to auctions quite often - more to see the art than to buy. Although I do like game of set and bid: see who your competitors are, and how far they are willing to go.... That is how we gradually got into it. Without having the ambition to build a collection. There is still no plan. We just buy what we like. Very spontaneous and organic."

Without Batteries

"We now have a few more works by Delvaux. Recently a small, unique drawing was added: Le professeur de philosophie' from 1975, one of our favourite pieces. We also have work by Felix De Boeck, Panamarenko, Mondrian, De Volder, Leonor Fini, Matisse, James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff and Félicien Rops. The latest acquisition is a collector's book of 32 colour lithographs by James Ensor: 'Scènes de la vie du Christ' - published exactly a hundred years ago, and thus just becoming an antique."

"Simone and I have a soft spot for Bruges, we had a house there for 20 years. That is why there's a townscape of the Burg here, by Paul Delvaux."

"One day, while walking through the town, we met Luc Putman. He sat at his easel sketching - the last two years of his life he drew very detailed cityscapes of Bruges. One of those 35 works hangs in our house: the belfry reflected in the canal on the Rozenhoedkaai, delicately drawn with a pen in terra di Siena."

"We moved into an apartment a while ago, and that meant that we did not have enough few empty walls. That is why we started buying some 3D art, so to speak. By Rik Poot we have 'Torso man & torso woman', an early work dating from 1955. His 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' was a fixed walking point in Bruges. In Leuven, we use 'The kidnapping of Europe' in front of County Hall, and 'Falling Horse' in the garden of the Faculty of Arts."

"We find Panamarenko fascinating because he is at the intersection of art and technology - I used to teach biomedical engineering, among other things. We have an electromechanical work of his: "Meganeudon" from 1973. It still works fine, but we leave the batteries out so visitors - especially our granddaughter - are not tempted to play with it."

Three Euros a day

"When I retired, we had more time to visit M, and became M-bassadors and M-art patron. That is not really a great expense: if you look at it over a whole year, it costs you a little over three euro a day."

"I have seen many museums and no two are alike. But M is quite special: this combination of contemporary and old art is almost unheard of - as is this alternation of styles. The range is very broad. Some exhibitions we visit three or four times because we found them so beautiful. Other activities or artists do not appeal to us as much - but that is part of it."

"We occasionally take part in activities for M-art patron - studio visits and such. Interesting, but that is not the main reason we became M-art patron. For us, it is mainly about being able to support the museum, and feeling like we belong to a club that's worthwhile - even if you do not see the other members every day."

Do you want to help realise the ambitions of M?

Then you should become an M-art patron. As an M-art patron, you pay 1,000 euro as an annual contribution, of which 500 euro is earmarked for M-LIFE and is tax deductible. This contribution helps us realize projects that benefit the arts. You will also receive invitations for exclusive visits to artists' studios and collectors, and meet like-minded art lovers.

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