Frans Hens - Ets, landschap met boerderij.

The Belgian artist Frans Hens (1856-1928) lived and worked in Antwerp. He is classified with the Post-Impressionists. Hens received his training from Jacob Jacobs at the Academy in Antwerp. Post-impressionist Frans Hens interrupted his education at the academy for a trip to the United States of America. During his academy days he befriended Theodoor Verstraete. This Verstraete was a stimulator of post-impressionism in Belgium and Hens was also influenced by him. Frans Hens was also friends with Emile Claus. He regularly encountered Claus in the cultural life of Antwerp. Congo Free State Hens was the first artist to visit Congo Free State. He became acquainted with African art during this trip in 1886. A year later he made a second trip to the private state of King Leopold II. He made countless landscapes that were later shown at exhibitions in Belgium.