Henry Van de Velde sets the table

It took some doing, but the retrospective exhibition to mark the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Henry Van de Velde (1863-1957), previously on show in Weimar, has finally come to Brussels. At the heart of the exhibition is a table, several metres long, with ergonomic silverware designed by Van de Velde. Around the table, the presence of Helene Kröller-Müller (who gave her name to the famous museum), Count Harry Kessler (the man who brought Van de Velde to Weimar), the Belgian socialist leader Camille Huysmans (who brought him back to Belgium), and Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, sister of the philosopher, is evoked by nameplates. That exclusive group perfectly illustrates the world that Van de Velde lived in. He was a Belgian whose work never really caught on in Paris because he had lived and worked in Germany and who finally opted for voluntary exile in Switzerland. Working together, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Jubelpark/Cinquantenaire Museum, and the curator Werner Adriaenssens have produced a stunning exhibition of the arts, which opens with two six-armed, silver-plated candlesticks – bought by the Museum as far back as 1900 – and ends with the desk Van de Velde designed for King Leopold III.

In between, you can see an array of paintings, Val Saint-Lambert glass, models, plans, tapestries, and vases. Henry Van de Velde – who, as an architect, gave us the Boekentoren in Ghent – is regarded as one of the fathers of art nouveau, of modernist architecture, of design, of branding, and of modern art education. The man was an all-round artist and even the compilers of the superb catalogue express amazement that one artist could create such a multifaceted and extensive body of work. Not to be missed.

HENRY VAN DE VELDE: PASSION FUNCTION BEAUTY > 12/1, di/ma/Tu > vr/ve/Fr 9.30 > 17.00, w-e 10 > 17.00, €4/10, Jubelparkmuseum/Musée du Cinquantenaire, Jubelpark/parc du Cinquantenaire, 02-741.72.11, www.kmkg-mrah.be