The Belgian Avant-Garde movement of the interbellum was itself influenced by the “De Stijl” movement formed by artists such as Piet Mondriaan and Theo Van Doesbrug. Among its prominent practitioners are Josef Peeters, Felix De Boeck, Paul Joostens, Jos Leonard, Victor Servranckx, as well as Rene Magritte. The Belgian Avant-Garde artists struggled with the idea of a radical break and longed for continuity with the past. Insecure about the urban mass culture, yet cosmopolitan, the group searched for purity. They cultivated the authenticity of the Flemish Expressionists such as Constant Permeke, Frits Van den Berghe, and Gustave De Smet, that lived a primitive life in harmony with the farmers in Flemish countryside
