Spilliaert was remarkably productive between 1907 and 1909, when he created many of his most iconic works. Curiously, he was frequently plagued by illness during this period.
Both in early 1907 and late 1909, stomach ailments confined him to bed, and his bedroom became an oppressive microcosm. His love life was not going smoothly either: after a disappointing experience in October 1907, he wrote that he would never marry. At the same time, his first buyers appeared on the scene, including poet Emile Verhaeren and lawyer Paul-Emile Janson. In Paris, dealer Clovis Sagot tried to sell some of Spilliaert’s work but was only partially successful. Commissioner Fernand Zamaron, a major collector, and author Lucien Descaves purchased works by Spilliaert.
Spilliaert often turned his gaze inward during this period: to his own surroundings, his sick room, his mirror image. Haunting interiors, still lifes and self-portraits characterised his oeuvre, as did scenes of the dyke, beach and streetscapes, which bear witness to his insomnia and nocturnal walks.
1908 saw the culmination of this productive period. This year marked his first exhibition, first article and his own studio. The article was by Fernand Crommelynck, an author for whose play Spilliaert had previously tried in vain to design a cover at Deman Publishing House. In 1909, the occultist François Jolivet Castelot wrote a second extensive article on Spilliaert. Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was also enthusiastic about Spilliaert’s work. In the summer of 1908, Spilliaert participated in the Salon des Beaux-Arts in Ostend, followed in 1909 by the spring salon of the Société Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where he exhibited a dozen drawings. In late 1908, for the first time he rented an attic studio on Visserskaai, which his new friend Constant Permeke would take over in 1909. Spilliaert became fascinated by boats and masts, as well as the fisherwomen who continued to feature regularly in his work.
