Spilliaert’s early years played out in Ostend. The oldest child of perfumer-hairdresser Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert, he himself son of a lighthouse keeper, and housewife Léonie Jonckheere, was born on 28 July 1881.
There already was an artist in the family too: Emile Spilliaert (1858-1913), although it is unclear whether Léon was influenced by him. Léon had two brothers, Fernand and Maurice, and two sisters, Madeleine and Rachel. Two more siblings, Marie-Henriette and Raymond, died at a young age.
As an adult, Spilliaert described his childhood as ‘a wonderful memory’.1 But, he did have a rather difficult character, which made friendships challenging. He avidly sketched away at school in Ostend’s Onze-Lieve-Vrouwecollege and already showed an interest in literature when he was a teenager.
