During my academy years in the 1950s, I was primarily inspired by artists like Cezanne, Marquet, Soutine and the Flemish expressionists, including Permeke, Ensor, Tijdgat and Brusselmans.
Then, in the early 60s, I became more interested in the ‘painterly gesture’, focusing on the handling of the paint, the ‘organization of paint’, without wanting to tell too much. This drove me further and further towards Abstraction. At first, my inspirations were the CoBrA artists; later, especially the new American painters like Pollock, de Kooning etc.
Under the influence of Pop Art, I consciously began making sparingly painted works that were nothing more than simple indications of what was in the world around me, as a reaction to the earlier Expressionistic onslaught of paint.
The latter half of the 60s brought more engagement. Although I still had little interest in a thoroughly worked-out way of painting, the subjects were more emotionally involved and concerned with topical issues.