Rik Wouters spouse Nel Duerinckx
Education and apprenticeship
Having left the workshop, Rik Wouters enrolled at the Academy of Mechelen in 1897. He remained a pupil for 4 years; until 1901. Wouters applied to the Academy of Brussels in 1900, but was only admitted in 1901, resulting in a relocation to the Belgian capital to begin his tutelage under Charles Van der Stappen. Restricted by the mores of the institution, Wouters was unable to produce any works of originality and so painted within popular methodologies, including hidden iconographical meanings- a style he would later reject. Wouters achieved high results in the Academy, ranking first in sculpture and second in historical composition.  Regardless of his academic success, Wouters burned his works at the end of each year of his apprenticeship. His earliest completed surviving pieces of sculpture are from 1907 and his earliest paintings date from 1908.Edith Hoffman (1956) suggests that in these early works, although proficient in both crafts, Wouters remained "dependant on those masters he admired most", and that it wasn't until 1909 for his sculpting and 1910 for his painting that he became "completely individual".During his education in Brussels Wouters met Hélène Philomène Lionardine Duerinckx, born in Schaerbeek on October 18, 1886. Hélène, known as Nel, would become Wouters' wife and greatest muse. The two were acquainted in 1902 and married three years later, in Amsterdam on April 15, 1905.
partner