The legacy of Art Nouveau lives on in Brussels

William Cook examines the triumphant return of the style to its spiritual home in the Belgian capital

Fine art: stained glass by Raphael Evaldre (visit.brussels/Raphael Evaldre)

Down a quiet sidestreet in Brussels, just off Avenue Louise, stands a terraced house that transformed our idea of architecture and design. The Hotel Tassel isn’t a hotel – in French, the word merely means a grand house, and this house isn’t even all that grand. Yet 130 years since it was built, the Hotel Tassel still looks radical, for it was this building that sparked a revolution in the arts called Art Nouveau.

Art Nouveau is difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. It’s more than an architectural or aesthetic style – it’s an attitude, a state of mind. It mimics the contours of leaves and flowers, the swirl of flowing water. Its inspirations were naturalistic, yet its techniques and materials were modern. A century since its sudden demise, amid the industrial slaughter of the First World War, it remains defiantly avant-garde.

This is the year of Art Nouveau in Brussels. The city is celebrating its unique Art Nouveau heritage with a season of special events. Brussels was the birthplace of Art Nouveau, the most beautiful art form of modern times. So why did the Brusselaars try so hard to destroy it?