Changes

Winter of 1899

Huklenbroich and Evenepoel's exhibition was a success. They had finally achieved their ambition of artistic independence—at last, they would be able to support themselves financially through their work. Evenepoel's health had been a concern for some time. He had been suffering from recurrent bronchitis, and in his journals, he mentioned growing concerns about his condition. In late November of 1899, Evenepoel fell ill. He entered a nursing home on December 8 and was diagnosed with typhoid fever. His condition worsened rapidly, and within weeks, he deteriorated significantly. On December 27, he died. The news devastated both Huklenbroich and Matisse, who had already fallen into depression due to his divorce and had been keeping a low profile in Paris.

Breakdown

Before this tragedy, Huklenbroich had formed a significant friendship with Henri Matisse in Paris in 1895. Along with Henri Evenepoel, they had become an inseparable trio navigating the Parisian art world together. Despite this connection, their early artistic styles differed significantly. Huklenbroich focused on more traditional subjects like Dutch and Belgian landscapes and figure studies, employing a palette that Evenepoel sometimes criticized.

Huklenbroich had lost both a friend and his primary artistic collaborator who had provided essential support. He found himself alone and adrift. As Matisse began experimenting with new techniques and colors that would lead to the Fauvist movement, Huklenbroich's artistic path took a different direction.

Henri's father, Joseph, frequently lectured his son, urging him to return to the family and lead what he considered a righteous life with the work that his father could provide. Henri's brother Eduoard had been working steadily for some time. Clearly, Joseph wanted Henri to settle down and start a family of his own.

Seeking to escape the chaos of his uncertain future, Henri Huklenbroich sought refuge in tranquil environments throughout Germany and France. He first retreated to Ter Wurm, a small German village with a nearby forest known for rest and health recovery.

Later, he headed for La Bouille, a small village surrounded by woodland situated south of the River Seine, approximately 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Rouen. It was during this time that Henri experienced a complete mental breakdown. Though the specific catalyst remains unclear, anxiety appears to have caused his life to unravel. He fled into the woods surrounding La Bouille and was found by his father and uncle the following day. They took him back to Brussels to recover.

His father, Joseph, was determined to bring Henri back into the family fold.

Marriage and Family Life

In 1900, Henri was introduced to Emilie Christine Elisabeth Margreitter,known as Milly, the daughter of a Belgian factory director. The introduction came through Frau Sophie Kufferath, a board member for La Chapellerie. Later that year, on the 21st of June, 1900, they married.

From 1901 to 1903, Huklenbroich maintained residences in La Bouille, Normandy, while also keeping addresses in Paris at 14 Rue Chabrol and later in Brussels.

He exhibited a single painting, Portrait de la sœur du peintre" at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1901.

On July 13, 1901, Henri and Milly welcomed their first daughter, Henriette.

Henri and Milly settled in a villa in La Bouille, on the banks of the Seine.

In 1902, Henri wrote a letter to Octave Maus, one of the founders of Le Libre Esthetique, where he continued to mourn the loss of his friend Evenepoel. The following is a direct quote from his letter:

"Once the first grief had passed, I felt an immense void grow beside me; then the memory of the being I loved began to take root within me, a memory through which everything in life spoke to me of him and confirmed his existence.

It is a memory that keeps growing, fed by the almost constant appeal I make to my mind to try to untangle the thread of our truly friendly and uninterrupted relationship in Paris—now already muddled by two years.

His life continues through us!

But when we find ourselves before those beautiful and vibrant pages, what a pang of the heart!

We seek him in vain to congratulate him and to share with him the joy he so overflowed with—under the appearance of a sometimes melancholic and sad smile, which knew how to be skeptical, for not everything in his life was rosy. In such moments, the look of my large canvas, outrageously ruddy, almost irritates me and I am ashamed of such health."

Meeting Count Harry

In 1902, he exhibited his 1898 painting titled “Visite Automnale” at the Salon of the Nationale de Beaux-Arts in Paris. It was there that he met Count Harry Kessler. In his journal a striking encounter with the work of a relatively unknown Belgian painter, Hermann Huklenbroich (interesting that he wasn't introduced as Henri).

Huklenbroich impressed Kessler with his intense use of color, decorative richness, and imaginative approach to composition. Kessler compared his chromatic creativity to that of Édouard Vuillard, but noted that Huklenbroich’s treatment was more powerful and raw.

He praised the artist’s rendering of fruits, fabrics, and ground tones, particularly the interplay of browns and lilacs and recognized in him a highly original sensibility. Though still technically unrefined in aspects such as spatial composition and atmospheric rendering, Huklenbroich was seen by Kessler as having the potential to equal, if not surpass, some of the more established names in the Nabis and post-Impressionist circles.

Kessler’s appraisal places Huklenbroich in the company of Vuillard, Denis, Bonnard, Milcendeau, and Guérin, but distinguishes him through the authenticity and freshness of his vision. While others in the group, according to Kessler, often repeated the techniques of their predecessors, Huklenbroich stood out for his individual invention.

This moment in 1902 is emblematic of Kessler’s broader concern with how artistic technique serves personal expression, rather than being valued as an end in itself. His reflections foreshadow his later role in shaping modernist taste and patronage.

The journal entry thus not only documents a rare critical spotlight on Huklenbroich but also reveals Kessler’s acute sensitivity to the evolving aesthetics of the time, as well as his desire to identify and support genuinely innovative talent in early 20th-century European art.

Despite this glowing critique, Henri’s life was split into his duties as a husband and father as well as an artist. This may explain the reason why he exhibited fewer paintings since 1900.

Henri's second daughter, Elisabeth Huklenbroich, was born on September 6, 1902.

La Libre Esthétique

La Libre Esthétique, founded in Brussels in 1894 as the successor to Les XX, was a groundbreaking avant-garde exhibition society organized by Octave Maus. Through annual salons (1894–1914), it promoted Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and early Expressionism, featuring artists like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso.

In February 1903, Henri exhibited at the Salon de La Libre Esthétique for the first time.

The artworks he presented were titled:

• Portrait de Milly H.
• Intérieur (Normandie)
• La tour de Cygne

This was a significant moment in his career, as the salon was one of the most prestigious platforms for avant-garde artists in Europe. By participating, Henri gained exposure to an international audience of critics, collectors, and fellow artists who were at the forefront of modernist innovation.

La Libre Esthétique’s reputation for showcasing groundbreaking work lent credibility to emerging artists, helping to solidify their place within the broader artistic movement. For Henri, this exhibition likely provided critical recognition and connections that influenced his future development.

In May 1903, he exhibited a painting titled "Les Vieux" at the Salon of the Nationale de Beaux-Arts in Paris.

It was his last major exhibition of his artwork.

Christian, Henri's first and only son, was born on November 6, 1903.

Decline in Artistic Career

The last known newspaper article that mentions him as an active painter dates from 1905, in a story that refers to what may have been one of his last paintings, "Les Vieux." His passion for painting endured, with sketching and watercolor becoming his preferred mediums. He continued painting in La Bouille, even keeping a residence on Quai de Caumont until around 1903.

It's unclear what happened to Henri after 1904. Despite having exhibited at an international level, his work received no reviews in the press and attracted little interest, with the exception of a few pieces.

Between 1900 and 1910, Western European art underwent a dramatic shift from realism to modernism. Movements like Fauvism and early Cubism broke traditional rules as artists drew inspiration from non-Western art and embraced bold colors, abstraction, and emotional expression. The rise of cinema offered a new visual medium, influencing how artists perceived time, motion, and narrative.

Art became a vehicle for ideas, not just beauty—a concept far beyond anything Henri had ever attempted. Fauvism employed bold colors and expressive brushwork, while Expressionism emphasized raw emotion over realism. Picasso and Braque's Proto-Cubism introduced geometric abstraction and challenged traditional perspective. Simultaneously, non-Western art forms like Japanese prints and African masks deeply influenced European artists' styles and themes.

These were all concepts that eluded Henri as he lived quietly by the Seine. Perhaps struggling with this realization, he ultimately accepted his unwillingness to adopt a modernist approach to art.

Currently, there is no information explaining why Henri didn't maintain his connections with La Libre Esthetique network. They too had been attracted to modernism, and perhaps Henri felt "dépassé"— surpassed with a mastery of style that was no longer in vogue.Or perhaps he was simply frozen in time by the loss of his friend.

Family Tragedies

Other tragedies befell the Huklenbroich family; Henri's two younger brothers died four years apart in the 1900s. Louis (1881–1907) and Armand (1876–1903) Huklenbroich both died in their mid-twenties, a tragic loss for the family. At the time, the medical note recorded their cause of death as "T.P."—short for tabes paralytique, a late neurological stage of syphilis.

Despite the family's privileged standing in Brussels, this illness, widespread in all social circles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carried significant stigma. In an era without effective treatment and limited public understanding, such a diagnosis was quietly acknowledged within medical circles, but rarely spoken of openly in bourgeois society.

Business, however, was flourishing.Joseph handed the reins of his business over his to his son, Edouard. The FBMC was now a powerful force in the felt trade, expanding imports from around the world. Edouard was sent on trade missions all over Europe and even Brazil.

Divorce

Though specific details are limited, it appears that Henri Huklenbroich and Milly Margreitter divorced around 1910.

Divorce at this time carried a significant social stigma of failure. Henri returned to his parents' home in Molenbeek and, as far as records indicate, never exhibited his work again. Some accounts suggest that his family may have destroyed his work, possibly due to its perceived lack of value or perhaps, not wanting to keep reminders of Henri's “failures” placed around the family home.

How Milly managed raising three children alone remains unknown. There are no known photos of Christian, Henriette, and Elisabeth with their father or the rest of the Hucklenbroich family. Contact was maintained between Henri's children and Edouard's children, as is evident in the correspondence in private archives.

Later Years

Despite setbacks, Henri continued to pursue artistic and literary interests. He traveled frequently between the family summer home in Blankenberge and Brussels. Hey may have continued to visit La Bouille in this period, but his artistic endevours became more personal and introspective.

Despite his father’s business success and continued support, Henri seemed directionless. He did not engage meaningfully in the family’s industrial ventures. This period was the transition from a once-promising painter navigating the Paris art scene to a forgotten figure living on the margins of both family and society. Following his final public exhibition and growing distance from influential peers like Matisse and Evenepoel, Huklenbrok withdrew from the art world,

Henri became increasingly isolated and dependent on his parents for his care. His friendship with Matisse, once so central to his artistic development, had long since faded—a casualty of their divergent artistic paths, Huklenbroich's apparent mental health challenges, and the natural evolution of relationships as life circumstances changed dramatically for both men.