Exactly 100 years after the birth of Art Deco at the ‘Exposition Internationale des arts modernes décoratifs et industriels’ in the French capital Paris in 1925, Brussels wants to highlight its own Art Deco heritage. Efforts target the people of Brussels, visitors from across the country, but also international tourists.
The Brussels heritage secretary Ans Persoons (Flemish socialist/Vooruit.brussels) presented details of the full programme of Art Deco 2025 in Brussels at Bozar at the end of last month. The Belgian capital hopes for a repeat of the success of Art Deco 2023 that attracted 2 million international visitors.
The Brussels region boasts a wealth of unique Art Deco heritage, including the Stoclet Palace in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, Vorst Town Hall and, of course, the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts, the Bozar. There’s also the Flagey building, VRT’s old broadcast centre in Elsene, Koekelberg Basilica and the Van Buuren Museum and Gardens.
These are Brussels's Art Deco gems that can be visited throughout the year. Organisations including ARAU, Arkadia, the Brussels Art Deco Society and Pro Vélo regularly organise guided tours of well-known and lesser well-known Art Deco sights. Brussels boroughs including Schaarbeek, Anderlecht, Vorst, Elsene and the City of Brussels also do their bit to highlight their Art Deco heritage.
Many activities focus on the social issues Art Deco addressed in the 1920s and 1930s, a period of liberation but also of economic, social and political threat leading up to the 1929 stock market crash.
In all, no fewer than 14 exhibitions devoted to Art Deco are being staged across the Brussels region in 2025. ‘Echoes of Art Deco’ allows visitors to discover the iconic Villa Empain. The house and garden of the famous patrons of the arts, David and Alice Van Buuren, can also be visited. There‘s an exhibition entirely devoted to sculptures from the period between the two world wars. If you still haven’t had your fill of Art Deco you can always visit the BELvue Museum, the Autrique House in Schaarbeek and the Saint Gaugericus Halls in the City of Brussels.
Art Deco 2025 is being jointly organised by urban planning organisation urban.brussels and tourism agency visit.brussels . Numerous museums, cultural, scientific and artistic institutions in the capital are all providing support. Visitors can use the ‘Art Nouveau Art Deco Pass’ to tour the Art Deco venues.
Paul Dujardin heads the enterprise and serves as Art Deco 2025 commissioner. He hopes that by unveiling the Art Deco 2025 programme and by offering Brussels an exceptional thematic cultural year the Belgian capital will be able to build on the momentum of the highly successful Art Nouveau Year in 2023.
Secretary of State Persoons too is enthusiastic: ‘We want to bring people back to the exuberant mood of the past, in the beautiful settings and the houses that this stylish art movement created. During the Art Deco Year, we will help the people of Brussels as well as visitors to discover how this movement came about, how it shaped our society in the 20s and 30s, and how Art Deco continues to characterise the Brussels streetscape. It’s going to be a real year of discovery of this exceptional heritage.’