This is a moody and ethereal Vintage Modern Belgian Impressionist Nautical Seascape Oil Painting on Canvas, by the acclaimed Belgian painter and esteemed Catholic Missionary, Wilfried Joye (1939 - 2019.) This artwork depicts an expressive dockside harbor scene at dusk, with a dark hazy orange sky overhead, darkened hills and shorelines, and several small boats lulling about in the tranquil waters below. The artist clearly borrowed from the techniques of the European Post-Impressionists, while including his own technique of Mid-Century Expressionism into the overall rendering. Deep hues of dark blue, evergreen and orange are visible throughout, and the tall masts of the boats stand out like stoic barren trees under the foreboding sky above. Signed: "Joye" in the lower left corner. This is a very early work by the artist, and likely dates to the 1950's - early 1960's. This painting a wide departure from his later works, which were Expressionist and figural in nature, often depicting the figures that he encountered on his Missionary trips to Africa. Approximately 19 1/4 x 25 3/8 inches (including frame.) Actual artwork is approximately 18 x 24 inches. Good condition for age, with some light scuffs to the painted surface, and moderate scuffing, edge wear, and chipping to the original period vintage wood frame (please see photos.) Acquired in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks!



About the Artist:

Wilfried Joye Born:  1939
Died:   2019
Known for:  Painting

Wilfried Joye (1939 - 2019) was active/lived in Belgium.  Wilfried Joye is known for Painting.




Paintings by Fr Wilfried Joye OMI have been decorating the walls of the Oblate Communities for many years. His art has also been seen in numerous exhibitions in South Africa and Overseas. Fr Joye is a prolific artist as well as being a Catholic Priest serving the communities around Potchefstroom.

Fr Joye and Bernie Mullen teamed up to present Fr Wilfried's beautiful paintings supported by Bernie's meditations and poetry. Together they unpack the deeper expression of the word and art.





Fr Wilfried Joye OMI prepares for his overseas exhibitions as well as another book on prayer and meditation.

Here he is seen with his artistic partner who writes the meditations linked to the paintings.  

Fr Joye and Bernie Mullen make a creative team.

Fr Joye also hosted the Provincial Council of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and showed his latest artworks in his studio in Potchefstroom.




Artist-Priest, Fr Wilfried Joye OMI Dies

BY  · PUBLISHED  · UPDATED 

A well-known and prolific artist and Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest who has died at 79 was recalled as a man who used most of the income from his paintings to build churches and support programmes in Klerksdorp diocese.

Fr Wilfried Joye OMI died on January 7 in Brugge, Belgium, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

His paintings have been decorating the walls of Oblate communities and of art lovers for many years, and have been seen in numerous exhibitions in South Africa and overseas.

Fr Joye’s artistic style resembled that of his fellow Belgian Oblate, the late Fr Frans Claerhout.

Born on July 4, 1939, into a working class family in Dadizele, Belgium, Fr Joye completed his humanity studies at the Oblate College in Warege, and made his first vows in 1959.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1964 and two years later was appointed to the prefecture of the Western Transvaal (since 1978 the diocese of Klerksdorp).

After studying Setswana, he worked in the districts of Wolmaransstad, Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom, where he remained for all his years in South Africa. Fr Joye loved working in the rural areas and was very close to the people.

He also served as chaplain at the University of Potchefstroom for a few years.

Fr Joye was very involved with the Chiro Youth Movement in the diocese, of which he was a great animator.

His Inspirations

From the beginning of his stay in South Africa, he spent a lot of his free time painting. He was inspired by the people he ministered to, and loved the rural and township life.

Many of his paintings were inspired by these surroundings, as well as by the psalms and the parables.

“I love to paint the farm people of South Africa. By nature they are very religious and very good people,” Fr Joye said in a 2003 interview. “Each time I paint, I hang myself on the wall,” he said.

The Belgian priest’s great gift of drawing, especially charcoal illustrations, was already apparent in the scholasticate.

While on a sabbatical, he studied iconography in Paris. “To me, an icon is painted theology. As you grow as a person, painting becomes an expression of your soul,” he said.

Fr Joye’s icons have oval heads, small mouths, and open, rounded eyes. “Small mouths show an attitude of being overwhelmed by the reality of truth,” he said in the 2003 interview.

“Big, open eyes are an expression of a seeing person, somebody who lives in the truth and understands the truth. Eyes are very important to me because they show an atmosphere of silence, wonder and mystery. That’s how I feel reality is,” he explained.

Paintings on Display

One of his icons hangs today in his previous parish church of St Michael’s in Potchefstroom. Others are displayed in places such as Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and Good Shepherd Centre in Pretoria.

Fr Joye’s paintings interpreting the 15 traditional mysteries of the Rosary hang in the basilica in Dadizele, his hometown.

He published a book of art and poetry with Bernie Mullen, who was impressed with the profound contemplative silence she experienced in Fr Joye’s paintings and penned the inspiring poetry to accompany it.

A second book is almost ready for publication.

In the new book’s tribute, Ms Mullen writes that Fr Joye’s style speaks of traditional icon artistry; the influence of his art mentor and teacher Egon Sendler, in that the figures have small mouths, large and usually wide-open eyes, straight-lined and small noses, and very delicate, gesturing hands.

As icons do, Ms Mullen writes, they draw the observer into contemplation and deeply prayerful attentiveness.

Fr Joye himself was a joyful person, a dedicated Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest, and a friend to everyone, said Oblate provincial Fr Neil Frank.

He refused further chemotherapy and embraced his death with deep faith and contemplative peace, Fr Frank said, adding that he was truly happy with his vocation and missionary life in South Africa.

Fr Joye’s Requiem was celebrated in the Oblate chapel in De Panne, Belgium, with memorial Masses held throughout the Klerksdorp diocese, including at his old parish, St Michael’s in Potchefstroom.



South Africa’s rural poor inspire work of Belgian priest-artist (2003)

By ROBIN GALLAHER BRANCH
Catholic News Service
Potchefstroom, South Africa


A Belgian priest and artist who has worked in South Africa since 1966 said the country’s rural poor have inspired his work. 

“I am very much attracted to rural life,” said Oblate Fr. Wilfried Joye, 63, an expressionist painter whose large oils depict religious themes and daily life in South Africa’s townships and countryside.

“I love to paint the farm people of South Africa. By nature they are very religious and very good people.” He said they are community-oriented and willing to “share what they have.”

He paints what he sees -- marriages, funerals, men drinking, men working in the fields, women working in a home, a mother nursing her baby, a young domestic worker resting. His characters bear his trademarks: big hands, big faces and big feet. Characters in his paintings wear clothes in solid, bright colors, while contemporary black Africans favor prints and patterns.

“The large hands and feet represent my Flemish, expressionistic heritage,” he said.

Many of Joye’s religious themes are portrayed in icons. “Mother and child scenes are very attractive to me because if you live in Africa that’s a lot of what you see,” he said.

“Each time I paint, I hang myself on the wall,” he said. “To me, an icon is painted theology. As you grow as a person, painting becomes an expression of your soul.”

Joye’s icons have oval heads, small mouths, and open, rounded eyes.

“Small mouths show an attitude of being overwhelmed by the reality of truth,” he said. “Big, open eyes are an expression of a seeing person, somebody who lives in the truth and understands the truth,” he said. “Eyes are very important to me because they show an atmosphere of silence, wonder and mystery. That’s how I feel reality is.”

Joye sells his paintings to supplement his $300 monthly priest’s salary. His paintings have helped him purchase a car and support parish programs. Sales helped construct St. Luke’s Church in Goedgavonde and an extension to Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Promasa, which ministers to South Africans of mixed races.

Joye said painting refreshes and challenges his philosophical side.

“Very often we are strangers to ourselves and strangers to our bodies. We must get in touch with ourselves. We must live in the moment and be aware of the moment. We must remember that we’re connected to all life sources,” he said.




MY ENCOUNTERS WITH AN ARTIST - Bernie Mullen (2015)

My first encounter and introduction to priest and artist Wilfried Joye, happened in 2008. Sisters Ann Wigley OP and Brigid Rose Tiernan SND had paid him a visit. Biddy (as I call her) could not wait to tell me about her exciting conversation with him and of the impact his art made on her! She insisted that I accompany her to meet him as she knew of my interest in art and writing. So began my blessed relationship with Wilfried and his works. What impressed me when I was introduced to Wilfried, was his openness and friendly way of welcoming strangers. He has a gift for immediately making one feel at home and his friendly manner invites all to relax and to enjoy his company. On that first visit, Wilfried took me on a tour of his home. Being confronted by a number of his paintings that hang in most rooms, is like being in the presence of profound and prayerful Silence that speaks to one visually. What immediately struck me was that all the works have similarities in that they portray with reverence and poignancy all the emotions of the human heart. The rural settings which lend colourful background to the central figures add a sense of sacredness and integration of all creation.

Wilfried Joye’s style speaks of traditional icon artistry in that the figures have small mouths, large and usually wide open eyes, straight lined and small noses and very delicate gesturing hands. They, as do icons, draw the observer into contemplation and deeply prayerful attentiveness. His works are however, impressionistic. The combination of these styles captures the simplicity, generosity and openness of spirit that African rural people share in their daily lives. Furthermore, the viewer is profoundly affected by vulnerability and poignancy of the human condition that Wilfried manages to so sensitively portray. Yet, in each work there is underlying and unmistakable joy. One grasps the idea, through bright and earthy colours and the sweep of generous lines in the art, that God lives in all creation and in every creature. God’s home is in us.

There are also connotations of Claerhout’s style and subject matter in Joye’s works. Bight and vibrant colours, rural landscapes, farm animals, birds, flowers and donkeys often feature. The unique symbol of the fish is often found in Joye’s portraits, depictions of the psalms and scripture passages. This is because the fish represents insight; it never closes its eyes, these remain open for the reception of Life and Truth. The mouth of the fish is always open and this symbolises capacity for the ‘Food of Life’ in its purity and fullness. The paintings of Joye are often religious and he presents to the world a journey of deep faith, the sacredness of life and the joy of hope. Like his paintings, I describe Wilfried Joye as a contemplative whose spirituality influences all those he meets. His wisdom shines through his openness to ideas, his search for Truth and his sense of humour. His love for the poor is evident in his relationship with them and in his fight for justice in a world that is materialistic and discriminatory. He, as a person, and as a serving priest is one who is compassionate, accepting of all that is human and one who seriously strives to be fully Jesus in his art and in his way of life. I enjoy very much such a relationship! I have recently had the pleasure of writing poetry for some of Wilfried’s art works. We entitled the book ‘Art for Prayer’ and teamed up with Sarah McGregor who helped us with the presentation and layout.

Joye’s art is also a means to draw us deeply into scripture. He depicts with insight the psalms and some of the Gospel writings. In such paintings one is always aware that God  accompanies us, loves us into Love and never forsakes us. We are cherished just as we are; in our human frailty, blindness and struggle for fulfilment. The figures are usually twinned with other eyes as though to emphasise that we do not see ourselves as God sees us. We are incapable of unconditional love and yet we experience it all through our lives. We need just to remain available for such life and love! An example of what I am saying is aptly portrayed in this recent painting called ‘The woman of Samaria’. She does not respect, love nor see herself as God calls her to do. She encounters Jesus at the well. She is exposed to his gaze, to his heart. She becomes in Jesus, a worthy and beautiful receptacle for absolute love and Grace. I think this painting that hangs on my wall is one of the most moving of all Joye’s works.

Joye has painted a number of biblical themes in series that elaborate and draw one deeper into a profound relationship with the subject. His series such as ‘Blessed are the Pure in Heart,’ ‘The Wise and Foolish Virgins,’ ‘Unless You Become like a Child’, come to mind. I think it is often the simple and uncluttered lines of the works that help us to be honestly vulnerable and willing to expose ourselves to unfathomable Truth. We encounter Mystery that affects our visual language, our emotional language and our spiritual expression. Wilfried Joye’s gift of painting has been a challenge for my personal journey. We live in a time of real and devastating cataclysm in all the aspects of life; environmental, social, economic, political and religious. We are confronted with the possibility of irreversible destruction through our own human behaviour and failure to respond to love-in-all-things. It is the art of hope and joy that Wilfried gives to the world that helps us to recognise our humanity and to trust that it is safely in God’s hands no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. Wilfried and I are currently working on a series of portraits for which I am writing short commentaries and poems. We hope to entitle the book ‘Portraits for Prayer.’