Reimond Jozef Pieter Kimpe was born in Delft in 1885, he died in Veere in 1970. Kimpe graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Ghent and he was a self-taught painter. During the First World War Kimpe was a ferocious supporter of the Flemish movement.
After the war, he fled to the Netherlands and settled in Middelburg in 1920. Initially, he painted in an expressionist style, using mainly brown colours, reminding of Flemish painters, like Permeke and Gustaaf de Smet. Among his subjects were vessels, harbours, landscapes, and people of Walcheren; he was especially inspired by Westkapelle. During the Second World War Kimpe was a member of the Dutch national socialist movement (NSB), although he later disagreed with the German occupiers.
In 1940 his studio and a great part of his work were lost in a fire. After the war, he began adopting a more abstract style. His men and women, houses and ships were rendered in sharps colours. Kimpe also wrote various novels including, ‘Levenswetten’ (1911), ‘Het eeuwige onvoldane' and 'Langsheen den gulden middenweg’ (1912).
