For Van Breedam, now 73, such objects are a source of inspiration to create something new; they act both as a reminder of what has been lost and as an opportunity to give them a new value. His artistic results vary from collages and boxes, to sculptures and installations; some are amusing, some uncomfortable, all reflective.

"This is a kind of reaction against the people who destroy everything, who throw away everything," Van Breedam said in an interview at Ieper's In Flanders Fields Museum, where he is the 2009 artist-in-residence.

Like all artists-in-residence at the museum, a position that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Van Breedam was asked to create a work connected with war for a small gallery under the bell tower and within the permanent WWI exhibition.

For his new creation, entitled J'ai rendez-vous avec vous (7x7), Van Breedam brings together several threads. He made a first version of this work, which has as its core seven wooden panels, in 1988 for a childhood friend who died aged 49 (hence the 7x7 in the title). Using that as a basis, Van Breedam decided to rework it into something new, removing the ornaments associated with his home region and being inspired by the Westhoek area, where at least half a million people lost their lives at war. The artist has got to know this region and its history over the last few decades, largely thanks to two close friends who have since died; it was with them in mind that he worked on his new creation.

"Camiel Van Breedam expresses the loss of hundreds of thousands of human lives in the Westhoek during the First World War through the loss of just a few loved ones," the museum's information panel states.

The work is linked to war and loss of life and yet has a vitality to it. The seven panels resemble oversized gravestones, but they are made out of different woods, which generate a warmth that is accentuated by their smooth edges and spherical ornamentation. The earthy brown colours and the choice of natural materials make the work seem very much alive.

"Art is something to make people's imagination work. That's my idea," Van Breedam said. It is important for him that his work provokes a response. He doesn't seek a specific reaction, acknowledging that "you cannot ask that everyone likes what you make", but he does want people to think and imagine.

The floor of the space, which is about 7m by 7m (seven is a figure that recurs in his work), is covered with leaves, among which gas masks are scattered. "The leaves were really the last thing," Van Breedam says. He remembers wondering what on earth he was going to use to complete the work, to have "the same character, the same feeling" and then one day he was at home raking the leaves in his garden and suddenly thought: "That's it!"

The idea behind the museum commissioning artworks is to provide an opportunity to reflect on war and peace. "They prompt the visitor to reach for an understanding that goes beyond simply absorbing historical material," according to Piet Chielens, coordinator at the In Flanders Fields Museum.

"It's not a happy subject but it's done with such beauty and such power that in the end you go away from it feeling rejuvenated. It inspires you," Chielens said.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the museum having an artist-in-residence, Van Breedam was also asked to do a retrospective, on display on the ground floor. This exhibition comprises 76 of the artist's works against war and violence - which together with the new piece upstairs brings the total to 77, that magic number again.

Much of Van Breedam's work reacts against the power wielded by, for example, authorities, religious leaders and politicians, and recurrent themes are those of loss and the deprivation of freedom, often represented by using bars, walls and other barriers. Van Breedam, dressed in his trademark red, says he hadn't realised before starting on the retrospective project just how many of his works had been against war and violence.

One particularly powerful work in the retrospective is The Wounded Knee Council, made in 1973 as a response to the Wounded Knee Uprising of Native Americans, who took up arms against the US government in protest against their living conditions. The work, which contrasts with the rest of the exhibition by its sheer size, makes for uncomfortable viewing. Life-size figures made of frayed hessian sacking, with missing limbs and heads bowed, sit in two rows facing each other.

"The figures attending this gathering are beaten and wounded, robbed of all their illusions," Etienne Wils writes in a book accompanying the exhibition. "They are defeated, not only because their fight against imperialism has found them unable to contend against their enemies' weapons but also because their self-image has shattered."

The figures also acted as an inspiration for the In Flanders Fields Museum in 1998. "I was looking for a universal persona rather than a mannequin with a uniform" to represent the universal soldier in the museum," Chielens explained. As a result, the soldier models in the main part of the war museum are made from the same hessian sacking.

The fact that Van Breedam agreed to do a retrospective certainly doesn't mean that he has stopped creating. His workshop at home, which is "more than full" with objects and finds from over the years, is a constant inspiration, he says. He describes how he can rummage around his workplace and then stumble upon something he hasn't seen in a while and be inspired by it. When he's creating, he's happy, when he's not, he's difficult to be with. Making art is essential for him. As he put is, "It's a way of life, it's a necessity."

Van Breedam's work is on display at the In Flanders Fields Museum until 4 October.

www.inflandersfields.be