For three decades, Belgian artist Luc Tuymans has used his palette of muted colors to scrutinize political leaders like Belgian King Baudouin and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now, the 54-year-old painter aims to debunk the mystique of a subject closer to home: the idealized artist.

Artists today are stereotyped either as romantically poor or glamorously rich, Mr. Tuymans says. "All these overblown ideas have nothing to do with the work and instead with personalities and image-building," he says.

This week, the David Zwirner Gallery in New York opens Mr. Tuymans's latest show, "The Summer Is Over," featuring six paintings of objects and locations from the artist's immediate vicinity in Antwerp. The objects are "looked at" by an isolated, purposefully unflattering self-portrait of the artist on an opposite wall.

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The Wall Street Journal, article by Mary M. Lane