The incredible Villa Empain, where now resides The Boghossian Foundation is hosting until March 10th 2024 an amazing exhibition called Water.
This Foundation was created in 1992 by Robert Boghossian and his two sons. The first fifteen years they tried to provide the improvement of living conditions for young Lebanese and Armenian people. Some years later, in 2006 they thought that the Foundation needed a change, searching for a new location, Villa Empain was the perfect choice, a Villa from the 1930s, would be the new Foundation settlement. After restoring the place, the two brothers opened it as a new Center of Art and Dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures, in 2010. Since 2016, the Boghossian Foundation has hosted more than 600.000 visitors. The Foundation also offers a Residency program, for those artists that have their art work exposed in the Villa, so they can stay there and promote their art projects.
Water is the beginning of life and it also is a source of inspiration and spirituality, that is the reason why more than twenty artists want to pay tribute to this element with their art works. Different ways to express the feeling of freedom that water brings us as a society, as well as the emotions and making everyone conscious about how important this element is, are all over the Villa, adapted to the different areas of it, there are two demonstrations in the garden, even in the pool, that is decorated with flags almost covering it all.
Kim Tschang-Yeul was a Korean painter who spent most of his life living in Paris, where he discovered his signature style: painting water drops. He has been one of the most important artists in Korean modern Art History. His work with droplets often refers to the subject of water droplets as multi-layered images of cleansing, purification, and “the evanescence of individual life”, painting these drops used to help him to forget the traumatic and painful memories from the Korean War (1950-1953), it was a therapeutic gesture, which also shares characteristics with buddhism and taoism, helping him to erase his ego. The artist, to give more realism to his artwork, usually used Trompe l’oeil technique, that gives a three dimensional illusion in his paintings.
Kim Tschang-Yeul's amazing art welcomes everyone to the exhibition, with his collection of Water Drops, which are perfectly painted drops in a canvas in different shapes, colors and energies.
At the main floor there is also the immersive Le Vals des méduses, from Pagès that also give you a special welcome with their dance.
The Silver Surfer Tears entice the visitors to go follow them to the first floor, where the exhibition continues, inviting the public to reflect, enjoy and feel connected to the element. More artists, and more artwork from the Korean artist is exhibited on the main floor: discovering Spanish earthenware pitchers, waves made from ceramic, sand, photography, glass… Kim Tschang-Yeul also has some more surprising art in the Baronness’s Room, there are three more gestures dedicated to the water, the most impressive one: Cérémonie (1993), which is a covered in sand structure with a big water drop on top of it, paired with more droplet paintings.
To sum it up, the Water exhibition is a must in your visit to Brussels if you come before March 10, you will leave feeling more conscious about the beauty of water, and you can discover young artists and their art work.