1881
Exhibits for the first time at the Brussels Salon
In 1881 van Rysselberghe exhibits for the first time at the Salon in Brussels. He soon develops his own realist style, akin to Impressionism.
1881–1882
A trip through Spain with Charlet and Regoyos
Following in Portaels’s footsteps, van Rysselberghe travels widely in Spain and Morocco with his friend Frantz Charlet and the Asturian painter Darío de Regoyos. He especially admires the old masters in the Prado; in Seville they meet Constantin Meunier, copying Pedro Campaña’s “Descent from the Cross”. The trip yields the portraits “Spanish Woman” (1881) and “Sevillan Woman” (1882), already quite different in style.
October 1882 – February 1883
First stay in Tangier
At the end of October 1882 van Rysselberghe sets foot in Tangier, and a whole new world opens up for him — so close to Europe and yet completely different. For four months he draws and paints picturesque scenes in the street, the kasbah and the souk: “Arab Street Cobbler” (1882), “Arab Boy” (1882), “Resting Guard” (1883).
c. 1883
Friendship with the poet Émile Verhaeren
Around April 1883 van Rysselberghe befriends the writer and poet Émile Verhaeren, whom he will later portray several times.
1883
His Moroccan works are a hit in Ghent
Back in Belgium, van Rysselberghe shows about 30 works from the trip at the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire in Ghent; the success is instant, above all for “The Kief Smokers”, “The Orange Seller” and the seascape “The Strait (Setting Sun), Tangier” (1882).
28 October 1883
Co-founds Les XX
On 28 October 1883 van Rysselberghe becomes one of the prominent co-founders of the Belgian artistic circle Les XX — a circle of young radical artists whose secretary and patron is the Brussels jurist and art lover Octave Maus (1856–1919). They rebel against outmoded academism and prevailing artistic standards; among the notable members are James Ensor, Willy Finch, Fernand Khnopff, Félicien Rops and, later, Auguste Rodin and Paul Signac.