Early Life and Artistic Beginnings
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Edith van Leckwyck was the daughter of Charles Van Leckwyck, a wealthy coffee roaster. During the war in 1914, her family relocated to The Hague, where she lived a life of luxury. It was in The Hague that she received her first formal training in painting under Jules Schmalzigaug and Willem Paerels. Following her return to Antwerp in 1918, she later studied under Floris Jespers.
Her life took a significant turn through her marriage to Prince Mirra Mahmoud Khan des Beny Saghaph, a union that was eventually dissolved in Paris in 1923. After regaining her independence, she met Wassily Kandinsky and Heinrich Campendonk at an exhibition in Antwerp in 1929. This meeting led to a trade of two glass paintings with Campendonk, and the two eventually married in Middelkerke in 1935.
Artistic Evolution and Later Years
Van Leckwyck's oeuvre is characterized by several distinct phases. Her early work focused on topographical landscapes and village scenes. Later, her style evolved into the painting of expressionist landscapes and cityscapes, as well as impressions of the sea, flora, fauna, and fantasy subjects. In her later years, after moving to Amsterdam and eventually returning to painting in a studio in Oostende, her work shifted toward a fluid style using bright colors to depict subjects such as airplanes and cars.
Her technical repertoire included:
Throughout her life, her work was held in various collections, including the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, which holds her 1930 work, Garden in Bretagne.
