Yvonne Serruys

Yvonne Serruys (1873-1953) is an artistic icon for the emancipation of women. Within the male-dominated world of sculpture, she challenged perceptions on prudishness and the shaming of the female body. You can discover her work in Ghent, Deinze and in her home town of Menen.

The sculptor of the new woman

From an early age, Yvonne Serruys was artistically stimulated. She was born into an affluent and Catholic, but progressive, milieu. She received a classical education (Latin) and drawing and painting classes in Menen, also from artist friends. For example, she received painting lessons from the famous luminist Emile Claus, who was a friend of her parents. She was likely self-taught in sculpture.

Yvonne Serruys, In de tuin van de familie Jackson, sd, Collectie Stadsmuseum Menen

A free-spirited woman in a male-dominated profession

Around 1900, she left her rural home town of Menen for the sophistication of Paris. There, she devoted herself entirely to sculpture, which was not an obvious choice. At that time, sculpture was regarded as rough, dirty and dusty work that requires a lot of strength. As a male-dominated profession, it was considered ‘inappropriate’ for a woman.

During World War I, Serruys’ interest in themes of emancipation and the modern woman grew and that is clearly recognisable in her work. She depicted the ‘new woman’ in numerous nudes. The figures she portrayed were young, free-spirited women with bob hairstyles, loose clothing and athletic bodies.

Initially, those sculptures were realistic, but they became rather stylised and austere later on. In that way, she was helping to break through prudishness and shame of the (female) body. After World War I, her fame grew. She received international commissions for public sculptures and monuments. This too was rarely available to a woman in those days.

Yvonne Serruys, Zittende baadster, ca 1926, gips, Menen Stadsmuseum_© Ugent, Gicas Maximiliaan Martens

Yvonne Serruys in Flanders

You can find this sculptor’s work in Paris and Tunisia, amongst other places, but also in Flanders.

Serruys immortalised her old painting teacher in her work entitled Monument to Emile Claus. The sculpture adorns the Citadel Park in Ghent, a stone’s throw from the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK).

The MSK itself owns two of her works: Head of a Woman (Portrait of Anna De Weert) and Group of Figures. The works are not part of the permanent collection, but sometimes appear in temporary exhibitions.

From October 2026 onwards, in the new collection presentation by the Design Museum Gentondek, you can discover two of her designs – a vase and a dark purple bowl executed in glass paste.

At the Museum of Deinze and the Leie Region (mudel), a stone’s throw from Ghent, you can dive a little deeper into work of Yvonne Serruys. There, you can discover her oil painting Praying Girl , attributed to Yvonne Serruys, and a design for a portrait bust of Emile Claus.

Though Yvonne Serruys moved away from Menen before she was 30, she remains irrevocably linked to her home town. City museum ’t Schippershof owns a large collection of her sculptures and paintings, which are regularly included in temporary exhibitions and in Menen’s town hall, you can discover some of her paintings.

In the front garden of the Academy of Music & Word, you will find the sculptures The Temptation and Girl with Apple Basket(*). Further into town, you can also admire her War Memorial of Menen and La Douleur ("Sorrow").

Want to discover more Yvonne Serruys in Menen? This engaging walking tour will lead you past her birthplace, her studio and other important sites in the city. Nowhere else can you get closer to her life story and her blossoming career.

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* Both works are now being restored and will return to the academy in the summer of 2026. Flemish masterpieces enjoy worldwide fame. For that reason, certain masterpieces are sometimes sent out of the country to be included in exhibitions in well-known museums abroad. But even then, there is always a wealth of masterpieces to discover in Flanders: in our museums and cities and at our heritage sites. This was the place where the Flemish Masters lived and worked and where they found the inspiration for their masterpieces.