Spilliaert is inextricably linked to his hometown: through his scenes of the dike, the sea and the port, bathers and fisherwomen, as well as the fact that his family name was well known in Ostend, including through his father’s perfumery and hair salon. Moreover, his many interior scenes and still lifes give the impression that he showed little inclination of wanting to leave his familiar surroundings.
Although Spilliaert lived in his childhood home until the age of thirty-five, he left the seaside town several times. In 1902, he moved to Brussels to work for publisher Edmond Deman. In 1904, he went to Paris, where he met many prominent artists through Emile Verhaeren. He would return to Paris many times in the years that followed.
In 1917, in the middle of the war, Spilliaert really did leave Ostend behind in earnest for the first time and moved to Brussels with his brand-new wife Rachel. Secretly, he dreamt of fleeing to neutral Switzerland, but those plans were thwarted by Rachel’s pregnancy, among other things.1 The family settled in Molenbeek, in the Karreveld neighbourhood and later in Begijnenstraat. In 1922, they returned to Ostend, but in 1935 they moved permanently to Brussels. During the last ten years of his life, they continued to move regularly around the municipality of Ixelles.
The Spilliaerts not only resided in Ostend and Brussels, Nieuwpoort, another seaside resort on the Belgian coast, was one of their holiday destinations, among others. On one occasion Spilliaert stayed in the southern French town of Saint-Jacques near Grasse, at the country home of Henri Vandeputte. In the summer of 1930, he spent time in the Hainaut village of Bassilly, mainly to find inspiration for illustrations for the book Au temps que Nanette était perdue by Benoît Bouché. As of 1936, the Spilliaerts often spent time in the High Fens at the country home of Adolphe Van Glabbeke, later minister and mayor of Ostend.
Although Spilliaert claimed it was his dream to travel, he never became a real globetrotter. In 1903, he had hoped to travel to the Congo through Edmond Deman’s son-in-law, but his poor health threw a spanner in the works. In 1908, he became rather envious when his friend, Stefan Zweig, was about to leave for India. However, when he did get the opportunity to take a trip around the world on a cargo vessel in 1927, he got cold feet and abandoned the dream for good.2 In the end, his travel adventures were limited to a family trip in 1932, when he received a travel grant from the Belgian government. With that money, he hoped to travel via the Swiss Alps along the Adriatic coast across Abruzzo to Rome and Sicily. He already led a somewhat spartan existence, and even on their travels he and his family enjoyed few luxuries, ending the trip early.3 They ultimately reached Venice and the Dolomites.
On his deathbed, Spilliaert expressed the wish to return to Ostend, but his precarious health did not permit it. He was, however, buried in his beloved seaside town following a Mass at the Maria-Boodschapkerk in Ixelles.4
