Belgium  

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Visual arts

Belgium is well-known for its fine art and architecture. The region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence over European art. The Mosan art, the Early Netherlandish, the Flemish Renaissance and Baroque painting, and major examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture, and the Renaissance vocal music of the Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries, are milestones in the history of art. Famous names in this classic tradition are Jan van Eyck, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. This rich artistic production, often referred to as a whole as Flemish art, gradually declined during the second half of the seventeenth century. However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many original artists appeared. Belgium has produced famous romantic, expressionist and surrealist painters; these include Egide Wappers, James Ensor, Constant Permeke and René Magritte.

music

In music, Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux were major nineteenth- and twentieth-century violinists. Perhaps the most famous Belgian composer of this time was César Franck. The first Belgian singer to successfully pursue an international career is the pioneer of varieté and pop music Bobbejaan Schoepen. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans is world famous, so is singer Jacques Brel. In rock/pop music, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Front 242 and dEUS are well known. In architecture, Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde were major initiators of the Art Nouveau style. In literature, Belgium has produced several well-known authors, such as the poets Emile Verhaeren and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon and Suzanne Lilar. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. The best known Franco-Belgian comics are The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé but many other major authors of comics have been Belgian, including Peyo (the smurfs), André Franquin, Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen. More recently, notable Belgian cinema directors have emerged, most of them strongly influenced by French cinema. The absence of a major Belgian cinema company has forced them to emigrate or participate in low-budget productions. Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; actors include Jan Decleir, Marie Gillain; and films include Man Bites Dog (film) and The Alzheimer Affair. In the 1980s, Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts produced the important fashion trendsetters, the Antwerp Six. Belgium has a thriving contemporary art scene, with internationally renowned artists such as Jan Fabre and the painter Luc Tuymans.


Underground music

The Glimmer Twins are Moe and Benoelie, a DJ duo originating from Ghent, Belgium. They host a residency at the Culture Club in Ghent. Their musical output can be found on Belgian label Eskimo Records. Ivan Smagghe released Death Disco on Eskimo Records.

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