Last week I went to see the Léon Spilliaert exhibition at the Royal Academy, and rather brilliant it was too. He was a Belgian artist who lived and painted at the turn of the 20th century, who unfortunately suffered from insomnia, and so would wander the streets of Ostend at night when he couldn’t sleep. Many of his artworks reflect the eery night, and I love his unconventional framin and the unfamiliar dark and empty street and seascapes. There’s something about the art from this period that feels so modern and appealing, and it’s amazing how contemporary they feel even now - over a hundred years later. I’m so grateful to the curator at the RA, as I also saw amazing exhibitions there last year by two unknown to me European artists from roughly the same period; the Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck, and Swiss painter Félix Vallotton (who’s exhibition I went to three times - a record for me!). I promise I’ll post my pictures from those soon. This Spillieart exhibition also travels on to Musée d’Orsay later this spring, if you can’t make it to the Royal Academy before the 25th of May.