Jean Gouweloos

Jean Gouweloos (Brussels, 1865 or 1868 - Brussels or Uccle, 1943) was a Belgian painter, draughtsman, poster artist and lithographer, active from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth. He trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he was a pupil of the painter Jean Portaels, and from 1887 he exhibited in Brussels, Namur, Ostend and other European cities. Before his formal studies he worked in Paris designing posters and later in his uncle's printing workshop, which specialised in art prints.

Around 1900 he gained recognition for his scenes of bathers on the northern coast of Belgium. Alongside seascapes and landscapes, he is best known for his richly furnished interiors with women absorbed in small daily activities, as well as for his portraits and nudes. He also painted two ceiling frescoes for the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend and twelve works for the Freemasons' lodge in Brussels.

During the First World War he lived as a refugee in the Netherlands, first in Domburg and then in Scheveningen, where he often painted beach scenes. His Art Nouveau house and studio in Saint-Gilles is a protected monument in Belgium, and his works are held by several Belgian museums, including Rêverie at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.