Horta, Victor (1861-1947)

Horta, Victor

ARCHITECT, DECORATIVE ARTIST (BELGIUM)

BORN 6 Jan 1861, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen - DIED 11 Sep 1947, Brussel
GRAVE LOCATION Brussel: Ixelles Cimetière (Pelouse 1)

Victor Horta studied musical theory at the Conservatory in Ghent, but he was expelled as a result of bad behaviour. He switched to studying arcitecture at the Royal Academy of Arts in Ghent. In 1878 he left for Paris, where he worked for Jules Debuysson. After his father died in 1880 he returned to Brussels where he continued his studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. He became assistant to Alphonse Balat, who worked for King Leopold II. They designed the Greenhouses of Laecken together.

From 1885 onwards he worked for himself and he designed houses and shops. In 1893 he became Professor of Architecture and he held this position until 1911. He embraced art nouveau and is often seen as the person who introduced it into architecture when he built the Hôtel Tassel in 1893 for professor Émile Tassel. The Hôtel Solvay followed and in 1898 created his own house.

In 1906 he divorced his first wife (they had two daughters) and he married Julia Carlsson in 1908. In 1907 he designed the Museum of Fine Arts in Tournai. During the First World War he went to London and when he was unable to return to Belgium he visited the USA where he gave lectures at universities. He sold his house at the rue Américaine in 1919 and for several years he worked on the design of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

In 1927 he became the director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and was made a Baron by king Albert I in 1932. In 1937 the construction of the Central Railway Station in Brussels started after Horta had been working on its design for many years. He was still working on it at the time of his death in 1947. Maxime Brunfaut completed it and it opened in 1952.

Related persons
• designed grave monument of Solvay, Ernest

Images
The grave of Victor Horta at Ixelles Cimetière, Brussels. Picture by Androom (06 Mar 2004)	The grave of Victor Horta at the Ixelles Cimetière, Brussels. Picture by Androom (28 Apr 2007)