Eugène Demolder

Who was Eugène Demolder?

Eugène-Ghislain-Alfred Demolder was a Belgian author.

He is probably best known among English speakers for his romantic novel Le jardinier de la Pompadour,. A novelist, short story writer, and art critic he was also educated in law. His memoirs, Sous la robe, offers a cultural view of the Belgian professional class of the late 19th century and its involvement in literary reform. His use of symbolism and mastery of ambience sets his novels apart from earlier romance pieces.

He was a member of La Jeune Belgique, a literary review journal which encouraged a literary renaissance movement of 19th century Belgium. This movement was influential in raising the national consciousness of Belgians, ushering in modernism and discouraging romanticism. Demolder contributed to La Jeune Belgique as an art critic and published an early monograph on symbolist artist, James Ensor in 1892. Among his contemporaries were Emile Verhaeren, Max Sulzberger, Edouard Fetis.

Demolder was born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek and died in Corbeil-Essonnes, France.