Actor Gene Bervoets exchanged the city for the countryside: ‘I now realize how wonderful it is to draw in the open air’

“Painting is like riding a bike: once you can do it, you can’t forget it,” says Gene Bervoets, as he installs his portable easel on an abandoned bench on the Westerschelde, near his home. Five years ago, Gene and his wife exchanged their place in Antwerp for an old kindergarten in a typical Zeeland polder village. “Deep down I’m a city boy, but now I couldn’t do without the peace and quiet anymore. This place combines the best of both worlds: we live here half an hour’s drive from ‘t Stad, but with the Western Scheldt in our backyard.”

Although Gene no longer gets around to drawing as often due to his overcrowded schedule, he immediately gets into the flow. With a few clean lines he captures the wild horizon in charcoal. Due to the thick fog, the air can barely be distinguished from the water, but the play of nature transcends everything, says Gene. “I let myself be guided by the moment and absorb my surroundings like a sponge,” he says. “I look at the world with a kind of childlike wonder and take in all the beauty.

“When we travel, we always look for special places to isolate ourselves for a while, but there is also plenty of beauty to discover closer by. We found a hidden bay a little further away that you can only reach at low tide. It is our secret spot, where we crack a bottle of champagne at New Year’s Eve or secretly dive into the water on a warm summer evening.”

As a beachcomber, Gene regularly scours the waterline looking for washed-up animals, special shells or pieces of driftwood to integrate into his works of art. He shares his love for the sea with chef Edwin Vinke, who only serves regional products from Zeeland in his restaurant De Kromme Watergang.

“We have been friends for years and during the lockdown the idea arose to incorporate art into a culinary concept. I then painted serving dishes with shellfish, cockles and lobsters, inspired by images from a book that Edwin gave me a long time ago. Nature remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I now realize again how wonderful it is to draw in the open air. Maybe I should make some more time for it. Let that be my new resolution.”