« Who are we? What are we? Where are we going? ».
Man’s perennial questions are echoed by Hanneke Beaumont’s work, but she also raises more specifically contemporary issues as in her cast iron sculpture «Abundance & Chaos». Many of her figures appear neither male nor female, neither young nor old. They do not appear as portraits of particular individuals, nor are they modelled after idealised human forms. Physically, they are approximations of human beings, and as such, they provide a way to consider, from a distance, general ideas about the nature of the human race. Their positions are not aggressive or provocative, but neither are they resigned. Fragile but strong, motionless but ready to move, these figures seem in a weightless spatial equilibrium – their human character tied to a string of thought. Dressed in timeless «clothes», partly structured material, intertwined with the body, they defy our perception without shocking our sensibility.

Hanneke Beaumont was born in Maastricht, in The Netherlands. After studying in the U.S., she returned to Europe and came to Belgium, where she lived a major part of her life. Beaumont started her artistic studies at the académie de Braine l’Alleud, then followed sculpture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de La Cambre and at the Hogere Rijksschool voor Beeldende Kunsten in Anderlecht. She had her first solo show in 1983. An important turn in her carreer happened in 1994 when she was awarded, for her sculpture group «Le Courage», the prize of the Centre International d’Art Contemporain Château Beychevelle. Shortly after, she participated in the second Exposiciòn
Internacional de Esculturas en la Calle, organised by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Canarias in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where her work was permanently installed. Since 2005, various museums have held retrospectives of Beaumont’s art, among which Beelden aan Zee in The Hague, the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Gardens (Grand Rapids, Michigan), the Baker Museum (Florida)…
In Brussels, she is instantly recognised for her monumental installations, namely «Stepping Forward» installed in front of the EU Council, «Le Courage» at the entrance of the Erasmus hospital, «Le Départ» at Brussels airport or «Interaction & Self-Protection» in Ganshoren. Present in numerous public and private collections, Hanneke Beaumont enjoys an international reputation and her art is exhibited worldwide. The artist shares her work time between Pietrasanta, (Italy) and Middelburg (Netherlands), where in early 2015 she acquired a XVII’th century warehouse as studio.
Her sculptures are realized in terracotta, bronze or cast iron.

Read and watch more

• “Hanneke Beaumont, The quiet between”, exhibition views at LKFF Art Projects, by C. Adolphy.
• “Je suis une femme qui sculpte. Voilà.” Interview August 2018 by Jérome Colin.
• The Quiet Between, July 2018. Essay by Prof. Joseph Antenucci Becherer, PhD
• Stepping Forward: Installation of bronze nr 77 in front of the new building of the European Council
• Hanneke Beaumont: The Urgent Moment. By Robert C. Morgan
• Desolated Figures in Abstract Sculptures. Beaumont’s Reinvention of Western Body. By Dinah Guimaraens
• Hanneke Beaumont’s Melancholia. By Robert C. Morgan
• The Unfantomable Figure: Hanneke Beaumont’s Sculpture by Donald Kuspit
• Hanneke Beaumont ou l’étrange étrangeté. By René Berger

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Awards & distinctions

Today, Hanneke shares her work time between Middelburg (The Netherlands) and Pietrasanta (Italy)

A third monograph book is published about Beaumont's sculpture with Lannoo

Hanneke Beaumont sets up a new studio in the renown "Stadschuur" in Middelburg

She is awarded the XXIst edition of the international sculpture award "Premio Pietrasanta e la Versilia nel Mondo" in Italy

Beaumont executes "Stepping Forward" a monumental sculpture for the European Council of Ministers, installed in front of their new building, Brussels, Belgium

She executes "Interaction and self-protection" a monumental sculpture for the Régie des Bâtiments de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Beaumont is invited to stay in the Centro di Studi Ligure per le Arti e le Lettere, Fondazione Bogliasco, Italy

Installation of "Courage", a monumental work in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands

Winner of the Annual Grand Prix, Centre International d'Art Contemporain, Château Beychevelle, France

Invited to take part in "Exposición internacional de Esculturas en la Calle", Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands

Invited to participate in the "Centre International d'Art Contemporain", Château Beychevelle, St Julien, France

Lauréate "Prix de la Sculpture Monumentale Alice et David van Buuren" Award, Musée van Buuren,, Brussels, Belgium

"Prix Métiers d'Arts 1987", Céramique Art de Terre et de Feu, P. Van Humbeeck Museum, Leuven, Belgium