Theodor van Heil

Theodor van Heil’s cityscapes burn with a strange mix of mischief and menace—he’d paint a skyline in flames, but add tiny figures fleeing with laundry baskets, as if fire were just another Tuesday. He spent his life in Brussels, where medieval towers loomed over half-finished canals, and his brush seemed to love the way smoke curled around church spires. Look up his “Oraș în flăcări” (City in Flames) and you’ll see why his fires feel less like disaster and more like a painter’s joke gone architectural.