Art Nouveau in Brussels

The Art Nouveau movement of architecture and design first appeared in Brussels, Belgium, in the early 1890s, in the architecture and interior design of houses designed by Paul Hankar, Henry van de Velde, and especially Victor Horta, whose Hôtel Tassel was completed in 1893. It began as a reaction against the formal vocabulary of 19th-century European academic art, eclecticism and historicism, and was based upon an innovative use of new materials, such as iron and glass, to open larger interior spaces and provide maximum light; curving lines such as the whiplash line; and other designs inspired by plants and other natural forms.

The early Art Nouveau designers in Brussels created not only art and architecture but also furniture, glassware, carpets, and even clothing and other decoration to match. Some of Brussels' municipalities, such as Schaerbeek, Etterbeek, Ixelles, and Saint-Gilles, were developed during the heyday of Art Nouveau and have many buildings in that style. From Brussels, the movement quickly spread to France and to the rest of Europe.

After 1900, the style gradually became more formal and geometric. The final Art Nouveau landmark in Brussels was the Stoclet Palace (1905–1911) by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which marked the transition to a more geometric and formal style and the birth of Art Deco and early modernism. Brussels' city planning free-for-all, between the end of the Second World War and the late 1970s, known as Brusselisation, lead to the destruction of notable Art Nouveau landmarks, most famously Horta's Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis. In spite of this, many Art Nouveau buildings still survive today.