Belgium · Art Nouveau Year

Issue date20 Jun 2023

Total mintage155,000

EU maximum155,000

Editions4

Edge lettering2 ★ ★ × 6, alternating upright/inverted

InscriptionART NOUVEAU / IB / BE / 2023

DesignerIris Bruijns

mintKoninklijke Nederlandse Munt, Utrecht

Issue occasion

The coin commemorates the “Year of Art Nouveau” celebrated in Belgium. The design features a decorative façade element of the “Hotel Van Eetvelde” in Brussels, designed by Victor Horta and part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Its curved, asymmetrical lines represent the nature-inspired style of Art Nouveau; above it is the inscription “ART NOUVEAU”.

The design

The coin’s design features a decorative element of the façade of the “Hotel Van Eetvelde”, an emblematic townhouse in Brussels, designed by the Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The element’s curved, asymmetrical lines reflect the characteristic nature-inspired style of the Art Nouveau movement. The element fills the lower half of the coin, leaving an open space above in which the inscription “ART NOUVEAU” appears. The initials of the coin’s designer, Iris Bruijns, can be seen at the far right. As the coins are minted by the Royal Dutch Mint, the mint mark of Utrecht, a caduceus, appears at the far left next to the Belgian mint master’s mark, an aster flower in front of an Erlenmeyer flask. Further to the right are the country code BE and the year 2023.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

Art Nouveau developed towards the end of the 19th century as a counter-movement to the imitation of older architectural styles. Architecture, interior design, furniture and everyday objects were to be combined into a unified design concept. New industrial materials such as iron and large expanses of glass were not concealed, but visibly incorporated into the design. Alongside Paris, Nancy and Vienna, Brussels was one of the centres of this movement. In Belgium, in addition to Victor Horta, Paul Hankar and Henry van de Velde were among its proponents.

Victor Horta was born in Ghent in 1861 and settled in Brussels as an architect. With his town houses, he developed innovative floor plans that broke away from the traditional division of narrow Brussels plots. Stair halls, skylights and open sequences of rooms brought daylight deep into the buildings. Horta often planned the architecture and furnishings together, including railings, door handles, mosaics and furniture. Four of his Brussels residences were jointly added to the UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO-Welterbeliste) in 2000.

Despite its name, the Hôtel Van Eetvelde is not an accommodation establishment. In French usage, “hôtel particulier” refers to a prestigious urban residence. The client was Edmond van Eetvelde, a high-ranking official of the Congo Free State (Kongo-Freistaat), ruled by King Leopold II. The building is therefore also connected to Belgium’s colonial history: the wealth, political networks and representational needs of the elites of the time enabled the construction of such elaborately designed private residences. Today, this background is increasingly addressed in the interpretation of Brussels’ architectural heritage.

The Belgian theme year 2023 brought together exhibitions, guided tours and the opening of interiors that are otherwise difficult to access. The choice of Art Nouveau as the occasion for the coin therefore refers both to an internationally renowned period in Belgian architectural history and to a specific cultural programme. Horta and his buildings are particularly suitable for this purpose, as they provide an exemplary illustration of the interplay between architecture, craftsmanship, industrial materials and bourgeois society.