Constantin MEUNIER (Etterbeek, 1831 - Brussels, 1905)

Meunier was a painter and sculptor and studied in the workshops of Charles Auguste Fraikin (1817- ?) (sculpture) and François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869) (painting) successively. He started as a painter and in the second half of his career he moved over to sculpture. In 1870, Meunier started taking his main source of inspiration from the proletariat workers.

This theme suited the artist's temperament perfectly, preferring the daily life of the people and the labour of the factory worker. He did not focus on misery nor did he reflect any political views. He simply made a statement about the simple reality of work, the genuine exaltation of the working man without any superfluous glamour.

Going beyond simple physical or psychological expression, Meunier established a synthesis of the worker, which tended towards allegory and in so doing created timeless and permanent symbols. Maximilien Luce (1885-1941) and Pierre Paulus (1881-1959), Alex-Louis Martin (1887-1954) took their inspiration from the same theme, but approached it from different angles.