Born in Bruges, Verbrugge studied art in his home city before moving to Paris in 1905 to complete his artistic education. Settling in Montmartre, he became close friends with Kees van Dongen and Maurice Utrillo, who introduced him to Monet, Renoir and Picasso. Painting in Paris, he returned each summer to Bruges, where his sumptuous depictions of the medieval city were famed. Despite moving in Modernist circles, it would be the Impressionists who most influenced Verbrugghe’s mature style. Across a nearly eighty year career, Verbrugghe perfected his cityscapes in France and Italy, yet it would be his home town of Bruges that exerted the greatest pull as a subject. Through a brilliant range of colours and bold brushwork, Verbrugghe would capture the complex light of Bruges’ canals and medieval alleyways, setting a standard for depictions of the city that have rarely been matched.