UNDERGROUND ART
Some 58 Brussels
metro stations have
been decorated with
a combination of
murals, sculptures
and architecture by 54
Belgian artists. Only
the most devoted
visitor to the city is
likely to see them
all, but there are sev-
eral notable works
worth seeking out.
Annessens was decorated by the Belgian COBRA artists,
Dotremont and Alechinsky. In the Bourse, Surrealist Paul
Delvaux’s Nos Vieux Trams Bruxellois is still on show
with Moving Ceiling, a series of 75 tubes that move in
the breeze, by sculptor Pol Bury. At Horta station, Art
Nouveau wrought-iron work from Victor Horta’s now
destroyed People’s Palace is displayed, and Stockel is a
tribute to Hergé and his boy hero, Tintin (see pp24–5).A PORTRAIT OF BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG 23THE ANTWERP ARTISTS
In the 17th century, the main
centre of Belgian art moved
from Brussels, the social
capital, to Antwerp, in the
heart of Flanders. This shift
was largely influenced by
Pieter Paul Rubens (1577–
1640), who lived in Antwerp.
Rubens was one of the first
Flemish artists to become
known throughout Europe
and in Russia. A court painter,
he also served as a roving
diplomat abroad. Trained in
Italy, he brought a unique
dynamism and swagger to
painting, which chimed well
with the Baroque tastes of
the Counter-Reformation.
Chief assistant in Rubens’s
busy studio was Anthony
van Dyck (1599–1641), the
second Antwerp artist to gain
European renown through
his court portraiture. Another
associate, Jacob Jordaens
(1593–1678), is best known
for his joyous scenes of feast-
ing, while David Teniers II
(1610–90) found fame with
pictures of Flemish life and
founded the Royal Academy
of Fine Art in Antwerp.
THE EUROPEAN
INFLUENCE
The influence of Rubens was
so great that little innovation
took place in the Flemish art
scene over the 18th century.
In the early years of the 19th
century, Belgian art was
largely dominated by the
influence of other European
schools. The artist François-
Joseph Navez (1787–1869)
introduced Neo-Classicism to
Flemish art. Brussels-based
Antoine Wiertz (1806–65)
was considered a Romantic,
but is also known for pro-
ducing melodramatic works,
such as the Inhumation
Précipitée (c.1830). Realism
took off with Constantin
Meunier (1831–1905), a
noted sculptor of muscular
coal miners and factory
workers in bronze. Fernand
Khnopff (1858–1921) was a
leading exponent of Belgian
Symbolism, notable for his
portraits of menacing
and ambiguous
women. Also on
a journey from
Naturalism to
Expressionism was
James Ensor (1860–
1949), who often
used eerie skeletons
in his work, in a
manner reminiscent
of the 15th-century
Netherlandish painter,
Hieronymous Bosch.
Between 1884 and 1894, the
artists’ cooperative Les XX
(Les Vingt) brought together
painters, designers and
sculptors who reinvigorated
the Brussels art scene with
exhibitions of famous foreign
and avant-garde painters.SURREALISMThe 20th century began with
the emergence of Fauvism,
as reflected in the charming
portraits of Rik Wouters
(1882–1916), filled with bright
counter-intuitive colour.
Surrealism arrived in
Brussels in the mid-1920s,
dominated from the start by
René Magritte (1898–1967),
who defined his disorientat-
ing Surrealism as “[restoring]
the familiar to the strange”.
More ostentatious and emo-
tional, Paul Delvaux (1897–
1994) produced haunting,
dreamlike scenes of skeletons,
trams and nudes. In 1948,
the COBRA Movement
promoted abstract art,
which gave way in
the 1960s to con-
ceptual art, led
by installationist
Marcel Broodthaers
(1924–76), who used
daily objects, such
as a casserole dish
of mussels, for his
own interpretation.
In recent years, Belgian art
has witnessed a resurgence,
and a number of artists have
made their mark on the
international scene, notably
Panamarenko (b. 1940), Luc
Tuymans (b.1958) and Wim
Delvoye (b.1965).Self Portrait by Rubens, one
of many done by the artist
Belgian artist Pol Bury, a noted member
of the avant-garde COBRA MovementSculpture by
Rik Wouters