Dirk Eelen

Dirk Eelen is a Belgian painter who lives and works in Leuven. Originally trained as an archaeologist at the Catholic University of Leuven, he turned his attention to drawing and painting in the late nineties. He started his studies at the ‘College of Arts and Sciences Saint Luke’ in Brussels and became an independent painter around 2004. 

Dirk Eelen’s style is characterized by dark backgrounds and a sense of motion, derived from the frequent use of photography and film stills as sources for portraiture. 

His oil-on-canvas compositions are contemporary yet recall the 17th-century Spanish painters. 

His work has been seen in several solo exhibitions in his own country, and in group exhibitions internationally.