Rebecca Wallersteiner travels to Brussels to explore Art Nouveau at the
BRAFA Art Fair 2023 and takes a peek at Maison Hannon, an Art Nouveau
townhouse turned into a museum, before it opens to the public on June 1st

Amongst my most treasured possessions is an Art Nouveau silver ring, with sinuous, flowing
lines bought on Portobello Road, and a crystal sculpture, with decadent swirling organic
forms inherited from a friend, who collected antiques. I’ve loved Art Nouveau ever since
first encountering it as a teenager, during its 1970s revival. A few years earlier there had
been a major show of Art Nouveau at the V & A where it caught the imagination of artists
and designers such as Mary Quant, Celia Birtwell for Ossie Clark and Barbara Hulanicki, the
founder of the fashion brand Biba, whose aesthetic was influenced by decadent, bygone
style. It continues to influence luxury glassware designers such as Lalique. René Lalique who
founded the firm was a principal exponent of Art Nouveau
Visiting the 68th BRAFA Art Fair in Brussels earlier this year, I was therefore excited to
discover that the main theme was Art Nouveau. Brussels was one of the earliest cities to
take up the Art Nouveau style which flourished around Europe circa 1883 to 1914. The city
has around 1,000 building that feature Art Nouveau style out of which 200 are listed –
making it a paradise for lovers of this art movement.
On 1 st June 2023, the Hôtel Hannon, in Brussels will open after extensive restoration under
the name Maison Hannon, making it the newest Art Nouveau Museum of the city. Visiting
the museum you will be able to immerse yourself into the decadent Art Nouveau era.
Situated down an unassuming road, just off the Avenue Louise, the mansion was once the
home of Edouard Hannon, a successful engineer. In 1902, Hannon commissioned the
architect Jules Brunfaut to design him a house blending Art Nouveau with French and
Belgian elements and it was equipped with the latest technologies of the time. Hannon
handpicked the artists and craftsmen he wanted to work with who, themselves created the
house’s equipment from its furniture to the door handles and cutlery. I was lucky to be able
to visit this museum and observe its painstaking restoration in progress, during a trip to
Brussels earlier this year, which was a fascinating experience.
Among the treasures being uncovered was the beautiful, sensuous 1914 fresco The Joys of
Life by artist Paul Baudoin, which had been hidden for decades under layers of dirt, cobwebs
and scratches until it was lovingly restored by Marie-Hélène Ghisdal.

On the first floor, after having spent forty years away from their original location, the
furniture and artwork originally designed for the house are being returned to their original
place. They include the work of the renowned French artist and designer Emile Gallé, who
worked in glass and is considered to be one of the major innovators of the French Art
Nouveau movement.
Don’t miss seeing the beautiful bow window on the ground floor, decorated with a yellow
stained glass floral design, originally created by master glassmaker Raphael Evaldre and
recently sensitively restored by an Art Nouveau glazier.
After Edouard Hannon died, his daughter lived in the house and it was continuously
occupied by the family until 1965, when it had fallen into extreme disrepair and inadequate
funds were available to restore it. The house was acquired by the local authority in the
1980s, who wanted to demolish it, but there was a local campaign to save it which was
thankfully successful. The campaigners had around 200 letters and many photographs of
how the house looked a century ago from the Hannon family to help them restore not only
the building, but also the furnishings.
Now owned by the municipality of Saint-Gilles, the two-floor museum offers an opportunity
for a fresh look at the sensual Brussels Art Nouveau style of architecture and design. The
opening the house on 1 st June will help fund its ongoing extensive restoration.
Art Nouveau was born in the late 19 th century from artists’ and architects’ desire to live a
freer, more organic life in a fresh, warmer setting and their reaction against stiff Victorian
aesthetic and the coldness of a booming, standardized industrial world. This ideal had
previously been defended by the Arts and Crafts movement. Apart from being inspired by
romantic feelings towards nature Art Nouveau was also influenced by the discovery of
Japanese art in the 19 th century. The artists, architects and craftsmen of the time, alarmed
by increasing industrialisation advocated a return to nature, to the quality and durability of
hand-made objects and the beauty of an ideal. Art Nouveau facades are very visual and
ornamental and the interiors rely on decorative, warm colours and glass windows which let
in as much light as possible.
Although the movement is more than a century old, some Art Nouveau pieces are still
affordable.
Entering the BRAFA Fair in Brussels Expo Centre earlier this year, I was immediately bowled
over by the sumptuous, playful Art Nouveau carpet, specially created for the Fair by Danish
company EGE, and based on original drawings by Victor Horta.
This year 130 galleries from 15 countries, including England were exhibiting at BRAFA which
is the oldest art fair in Europe. With Masterpiece and the Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia not

happening in London this summer, more high end galleries are moving to European fairs
such as BRAFA, Art Basel and TEFAF Maastricht.
Many of this year’s leading dealers at BRAFA were offering rare and precious works of Art
Nouveau design. Highlights of the Fair included Vase de Fleurs, a haunting, dreamlike
symbolist pastel by French symbolist artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916), presented by Galerie
Tamenaga. Redon is best known for his mysterious Symbolist works exploring themes of
religion and spirituality – with a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. Such flower studies, typically
of simple posies arranged by his wife, were a favourite theme for Redon from the 1900s
until the end of his life.
An exquisite piece which caught my attention was a rare Chinese polychrome figure of a
golden pheasant on a rock from the Qianlong dynasty (1736-1795), presented by Galerie
Betrand De Lavergne, in Paris – is sure to have excited collectors.
Other highlights were an elegant Art Nouveau sofa, circa 1900, created by Eugene Vallin,
shown by Galerie Mathivet, (Paris), with graceful curves reminiscent of Victor Horta’s
armchairs. Dr Lennart Booij Fine Art & Rare Items (Amsterdam) showed a beautiful early Art
Nouveau Emily Gallé ceramic vase, fired with a Japanese glaze, embellished with enamel
and gold decoration, which is said to have been presented at the World’s Fair in Paris in
1889.
Rejected and reviled in the decades after its brief flowering more than a century ago, when
the horrors and suffering of the First World War made it seem rather frivolous, Art Nouveau
made a spectacular return in the final decades of the 20 th century and is now appreciated as
never before.
Whenever in Brussels, I stay at the charming Hotel Amigo, owned by Rocco Forte. Set in a
five hundred year old townhouse, Hotel Amigo blends typical Anglo-Italian warmth with
style. The bathrooms are marbled and spotless. It is a stone’s throw from the magnificent
medieval Grand Place, with its magnificent Guild-houses. The Maison Hannon Museum is
around 40 minuteswalk from the hotel along winding cobbled streets, sprinkled with
alluring chocolaterie, and the Horta Museum, is also located nearby.

Rebecca Wallersteiner stayed at the Hotel Amigo, Rue de l’Amigo 1-3, Brussels and visited
the BRAFA Art Fair, in Brussels.   www.brafa.art
Hannon Museum, 1, avenue de la jonction, 1060 Saint Gilles, Brussels – opening on June 1 st
2023 – www.maisonhannon.be

Horta Museum – www.hortamuseum.be