Edouard Verschaffelt Belgium, 1874-1955

Belgian Orientalist painter rooted in Algeria

Born in Ghent in 1874, Édouard Verschaffelt trained at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, where Flemish painting traditions and Impressionism shaped his early artistic development. During World War I, he relocated to Algeria in 1919, settling in Bou Saâda—a renowned hub of Orientalist art—where he embraced local culture, even influenced by Étienne Dinet.

Deeply connected to his adopted land, he rejected colonial academic Orientalism in favor of a genuine immersion in Algerian life. His works—depicting markets, families, North African faces, and Saharan landscapes—reflect sincere engagement with local realities. He typically signed his paintings as “E. Verschaffelt.”

Verschaffelt lived in North Africa for the rest of his life, passing away in Bou Saâda in 1955. His legacy is a compelling body of work that offers expressive, historically significant portraits of Algeria in the first half of the 20th century.