Gailliard visits Ensor

Jean-Jacques Gailliard (Brussels, 22 November 1890 – Saint-Gilles, 17 April 1976) was a Belgian painter and graphic artist. As the son of the Impressionist painter Franz Gailliard (1861-1932), friend and colleague of James Ensor, the young Jean-Jacques received his first drawing and painting lessons from his father. In his childhood, he was surrounded by artists, musicians and people from the world of esotericism and occultism. Because of his spiritualistic orientation, his early work tends towards a kind of symbolism, in combination with a pointillist technique. During the Interbellum his painting became abstract, but after the Second World War his work became figurative. During the summer months he often spent family holidays in Ostend and regularly visited James Ensor, of whom he painted several portraits.