LA FLEUR EN PAPIER DORE (The Gold Paper Flower) TAVERN

 

One day   a friend asked me if I knew the Artists' Tavern. No, I didn't. When we arrived there, I would never have imagined that such a treasure lay in this small house. Inside, it wasn't that small, but it was very long, and the walls were hung with autographs and photos of the artists who met there.

Tintin's "father" and the famous painter Magritte also sat here. 

La Fleur en Papier Doré (The Gold Paper Flower ) is a Brussels tavern. It was once popular with artists and writers of both the COBRA surrealist movement

A monochromatic portrait of Tintin’s creator, Georges Rémi (Hergé), beer in hand, hangs above the bar, just opposite where the photograph was taken. 

A frame fastened to the entry door contains what are believed to be early sketches of Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, who visited regularly, although the artist, poet, and trickster, Geert van Bruaene, who ran the café from 1944 until his death in 1964, was known to have playfully placed a counterfeit or two. 

Tintin 

 

Magritte 

Van Bruaene’s collection of artwork, photos, and other objects, whether created by himself or gifted by the numerous artists who frequented La Fleur en Papier Doré, remain untouched on the walls since the café’s classification as a listed building in 1997. 

After a formal renovation in 2007, the “patina” of nicotine-soaked walls was preserved by mixing Lambic beer into the paint. The origin of the café’s name may not be known with certainty. If only these flowered walls could talk.

The Tavern

 

 

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