Poet and journalist Bernard Dewulf writes extensively about art and culture. His Radio Books story is about an artist confronted with a disturbing lapse of memory when he sets out to paint his former lover.

Bernard Dewulf - 'The Back'

Flemish writer Bernard Dewulf was born in Brussels in 1960. He has worked for several Flemish periodicals including De Morgen where he was Culture Editor. He won the 1996 Debut Prize for his first collection of poetry ‘Waar de egel gaat’ (Where the Hedgehog Goes).

Poetry and art

Dewulf has published two collections of essays about art: ‘De geschildered zee’ (The Painted Sea) and ‘Bijlichtingen: kijken naar schilders’ (Spotights: looking at painters). In his 2006 collection of poetry ‘Blauwziek’ some of the poems are inspired by the work of artists, in particular a cycle about the French painter Pierre Bonnard.

Bonnard was perhaps most well-known for painting more than 350 nude portraits of his wife, Marthe. Dewulf also references Bonnard as well as other painters in his story for Radio Books. 

Naked memory

An artist finds himself somewhat lost when he sets out to create a series of paintings of his former lover. He invents a writer to pen seven letters to his beloved (possibly a reference to the seven surviving letters written by Rembrandt.) Can words release the images which appear to be trapped in the artist’s mind? 

“I have tried to paint your back from memory. A naked back from naked memory. It didn’t work. I worked on it all day, in a small format, that seemed the most convenient. The light was greyish today, as I had hoped it would be. It could not become a sweet painting. But all that fuss about the light. Northern light, flat light, morning light, afternoon light, evening light. It’s the light in the head that matters.”

‘The Back’ by Bernard Dewulf was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.