The
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (
ARBA) in Brussels is an art school, founded in 1711.
The faculty and alumni of ARBA include some of the most famous names in Belgian painting, sculpture, and architecture:
James EnsorJames Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor was a Flemish-Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for almost his entire life...
,
Rene MagritteRené François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
, and
Paul DelvauxPaul Delvaux was a Belgian painter, associated with Surrealism, famous for his paintings of female nudes.-Biography:...
. Painter
Vincent van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
studied here, briefly, beginning in late 1880, to improve his grasp of anatomy, composition, and perspective.
PeyoPierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:...
, creator of
The SmurfsThe Smurfs is a comic and television franchise centred on a group of small blue fictional creatures called Smurfs, created and first introduced as a series of comic strips by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo on October 23, 1958...
, also trained here.
Originally housed in a single room in the city hall, in 1876 the school moved to a former convent and orphanage in the Rue du Midi, rehabilitated by the city architect Pierre-Victor Jamaer and where the school still operates.
The most notable directors of the school have included:
- François-Joseph Navez
François-Joseph Navez was a Belgian neo-classical painter.A pupil of Jacques-Louis David, he spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822. Between 1835 and 1862 he was the director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.He was a very successful portrait painter...
(1835–1862)
- Louis Gallait
Louis Gallait was a Belgian painter.Gallait was born in Tournai, Hainaut, Belgium in 1810. He first studied in his native town under Philippe Auguste Hennequin. In 1832 his first picture, Tribute to Caesar, won a prize at the exhibition at Ghent...
(later 19th century)
- Jean-François Portaels
Jean-François Portaels was a Belgian orientalist painter and director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.- Life :...
(beginning 1878)
- artist Joseph Stallaert (1895–1900)
- Charles van der Stappen
Charles van der Stappen , was a Belgian sculptor, born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.- Life :Educated at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels , van der Stappen's contribution to the Brussels Salon was "The Faun's Toilet" of 1869, and thereafter he began to produce work of a high and novel...
(early 20th century)
- Jacques de Lalaing
Jacques de Lalaing was an Anglo-Belgian painter and sculptor, specializing in animals.- Life :Born in London as the son of a Belgian diplomat and an English aristocrat, Lalaing was raised in England until 1875, when he moved to Brussels...
(1904–1913)
- Victor Rousseau
Victor Rousseau was a Belgian sculptor and medalist.- Life :Rousseau was of Walloon heritage and descended from a line of stonemasons. He began carving stone at age 11, working at the site of the Law Courts of Brussels, designed by architect Joseph Poelaert...
(1919–1922)
- Victor Horta
Victor, Baron Horta was a Belgian architect and designer. John Julius Norwich described him as "undoubtedly the key European Art Nouveau architect." Indeed, Horta is one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture; the construction of his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels in 1892-3 means that...
(1927–1931)
- Victor Rousseau
Victor Rousseau was a Belgian sculptor and medalist.- Life :Rousseau was of Walloon heritage and descended from a line of stonemasons. He began carving stone at age 11, working at the site of the Law Courts of Brussels, designed by architect Joseph Poelaert...
(1931–1935)
- architect Henry Lacoste (1954–1957)
- Paul Delvaux
Paul Delvaux was a Belgian painter, associated with Surrealism, famous for his paintings of female nudes.-Biography:...
(1965–1966)
The school is sometimes confused with
The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of BelgiumThere are two Royal Academies for Science and the Arts in Belgium, corresponding to the two main languages of the country, Dutch and French . The Academies are located in the Palace of Academies in Brussels....
, a separate institution, and the French
Académie des Beaux-ArtsThe Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
in Paris, part of the
Institut de FranceThe Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...
.
Sources