Jean-Louis Minne was born in Saint-Gilles (Brussels) in September 1876.  His father was a woodworker who had four children, and Jean-Louis was the only boy.  From a young age he showed an aptitude for drawing.  He attended evening classes at Saint-Gilles Academy, where he obtained a Silver Medal in 1905, and Gold in 1907.  However, he did not linger with the exclusive representation of the human form, which was the preferred subject of these classes.  He soon undertook a passionate study of landscape.  He left behind the studios and their sometimes gloomy lighting conditions, preferring instead to revel in the outdoors light that varies with the time of day, the weather and the seasons.  He set out for study trips through Italy, France and Germany.  Naturally attracted by the visit of prestigious museums, he nevertheless did not hide his disappointment: while in Italy, he wrote “I could not for stay long in those dark rooms and churches, such was my craving for light”.  His investigations into light and colours led him - in collaboration with scientists interested in the issue – to the formulation of a personal theory in relation to the perception of light and colours.  He presented this theory, alongside his paintings, in the “Salle Studio” (Brussels) in April 1919.  From 1906 onwards, he participated in large collective exhibitions, including the Triennales of Namur, Liège and Antwerp, the ‘Cercle Artistique’ in Brussels, the Tunis salon (1912 and 1914).  Personal exhibitions also took place, starting at the Waux-Hall Artistic Circle in Brussels.  He soon undertook journeys through the Brabant countryside, stopping near farms to draw and paint farmers at work, scruffy children, farm animals and - of course - landscapes.  However he was inspired mostly by the forest, of which he applied himself to capture now the harmony, now the rhythm, now the monumentality.  He became a eulogist (‘Chantre’) of the forest, as writes Sander Pierron in his ‘Histoire Illustrée de la Forêt de Soignes’.  During this period he refined his skills at expressing the subtle emotions from the wooded alleys, filled with fog or sunshine, colours changing with the seasons, or from the midst of the tall trees and the tangled undergrowth.

The artist in Uccle

It is certainly his love for the forest that led him to move from St Gilles to a small house in the Fort-Jaco area.  He married towards 1920, then moved again to an apartment on the Chaussée de Waterloo.  In 1923 his son José was born.  Unfortunately his wife died a few days after giving birth.  At the time he had undertaken the building of his house at Avenue Victor Emmanuel III in the Vivier D’Oie – another strategic location in relation to his beloved forest.  It is in this house that he would see out the remainder of his days until his death in June 1951. 

In 1956, a retrospective of his work took place at the 'Galerie Lautrec' in Brussels.  In 1962 a tribute to the late artist was presented in the Uccle Cultural Centre.