Tag Archives: Brussels

About suffering they were never wrong

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

W. H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” written in 1938, is one of the better-known examples of ekphrasis, or poems inspired by artworks, up there with Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo.”Auden’s subject is … Continue reading →

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Why a Duck

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I first discovered the dreamy near Surrealist paintings of the Belgian artist Paul Delvaux at the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels many decades ago. I was particularly drawn to his works on trains and train stations. Delvaux was … Continue reading →

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Certainement pas The New Yorker

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years, I’ve seen quite a few attempts to pay homage to the brilliant cover art of the iconic The New Yorker magazine. None compares to the creativity of the project called The Brusseler  from Belgium’s Maison de L’Image … Continue reading →

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The Feast of Venus

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Last year, the Belgian tourist bureau VisitFlanders commissioned the folks at SkullMapping to create a wonderful bit of projection mapping to entertain passengers while they waited for flights at Brussels National Airport. With some clever digital trickery, a cheeky little … Continue reading →

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The Mind Loves The Unkown

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

“The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown since meaning of the mind is itself unknown.”

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House of European History

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

After ten years of planning, and a €55 million investment, The House of European History has finally opened in Brussels, Belgium. The new museum hopes to provide visitors with an overview of the history of Europe since the French Revolution and … Continue reading →

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Brussels Book Days

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Throughout the month of March, Belgium’s capital will be celebrating Brussels Book Days. The collaborative venture of the Foire du Livre de Bruxelles (Brussels Book Fair) and Passa Porta International Center for Literature celebrates the city’s passion for books and reading with … Continue reading →

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What’s In A Name

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Brian D. Butler
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Foire du Livre

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

I was amused to see that this year’s Foire du Livre de Bruxelles is being promoted by the city’s unofficial mascot. The Manneken Pis, a diminutive 17th century bronze statue, is dressed in a new print covered outfit and is … Continue reading →

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Listen to the City

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

The French railway company Thalys recently launched an entertaining advertising campaign via billboards in Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Each of the project freestanding billboards has a map of one of another trio city with 1,000 built-in audio jack ports. Passers-by … Continue reading →

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