Francine Somers

Francine Somers was born in Ghent, Belgium, and grew up in an artistic and musical household. As a small child, she liked to walk and sketch the streets and neighborhoods of the city. At age seven, her talent came to the attention of artist Jules De Bruycker, who arranged for her drawings to be exhibited in the town hall of Ledeberg. In 1936, at age 13, she was admitted as the youngest student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. She graduated with honors in 1943, and the same year married Pierre Tytgat, with whom she had two children. Five years later, she won the famous Prix Jeanne Pipyn for the most promising young artist. The family spent the summers in the countryside at Deurle aan de Leie, where Francine painted nature, her children, and stillifes. In 1951, they went to live for a few years in the Belgian Congo, settling in Goma, on the shores of Lake Kivu. Her African period would culminate in a large mural and bas relief for the Congo Pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. After the family returned to Belgium, Francine studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leuven and in Etterbeek, and began designing commemorative medals and coins. In 1967, she attended rehearsals of Maurice Béjart's Ballet of the XXth Century, which resulted in numerous drawings about ballet. She also designed stamps and posters for the National Lottery of Belgium. In the mid-1960s, she lived in Paris, where she came into contact with numerous young artists. She exhibited her work in Brussels, Paris, Deurle, Ghent, and Athens. She published a memoir, Ma chère ville de Gand, in 2007.