Brussels Art Deco in the spotlight in 2025
This year, we are celebrating the centenary of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925. It is the perfect opportunity to (re)discover the Art Deco gems scattered throughout the Belgian capital.
Art Deco is an artistic and architectural style that emerged in the early 20th century. This style is characterised by a return to symmetry and straight lines in reaction to Art Nouveau, which was all about curves, light and organic forms.
There are many examples of this architectural style, but are you familiar with these two masterpieces that are open to the public? They are the Boghossian Foundation - Villa Empain in Ixelles and the Van Buuren Museum & Gardens in Uccle.
Built in the early 1930s, the villa was commissioned by Baron Louis Empain from architect Michel Polak. He quickly donated his property to the Belgian state to open a museum dedicated to Art Deco.
Over the decades, the Villa Empain has had an eventful history, serving as an exhibition hall, occupied by the German army during the Second World War, the embassy of the USSR and even the headquarters of RTL. In 2006, the Boghossian family acquired this exceptional property to establish their foundation. Since 2010, it has been promoting dialogue between East and West through numerous exhibitions.
A slightly more recent construction, the villa that now houses the Van Buuren Museum was built in 1928 by architects Léon Emmanuel Govaerts and Alexis Van Vaerenbergh. Exceptionally well preserved, this house museum is filled with period furniture, tapestries, stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings. This architectural gem, typical of the Amsterdam School, is a sumptuous setting for a unique Art Deco interior. Following the death of Alice van Buuren, the house became a museum open to the public in 1975. Here you can discover a collection of artworks spanning the 15th to the 20th century.