The famous Belgian Artists

Today, I'm going to write about the famous Belgian artists. Even if we are a small country, we still have a lot
to offer, especially in the arts.

Nowadays, one of the artist we talk about the most in the media is Stromae. Even in Graz, I've heard his songs many times on the radio.
His real name is Paul Van Haver. He was born in 1985 in Brussels where he's been living with his belgian mother, his three brothers and his sister. Stromae's father comes from Rwanda but he never recognised his chidren.
He's really appreciated for his musical skills, but also for his writing skills. In fact, Stromae's songs often deal with society issues as a one-parent childhood in Papaoutai, the unease of the youngs in Alors on danse, break-ups in Te quiero or couple issues in Tous les mêmes.
His nickname is  backward-slang of the word Maestro.
He's sometimes said to be the heir of Jacques Brel.



Since I wrote about Stromae, let me introduce you to Jacques Brel. This singer was born in Brussels in 1929. Raised in the flemish french-speaking bourgeoisie, Jacques Brel started writing songs in Dutch and in French. In 1952, he started writing his first French songs and gained quickly more and more popularity to finally become one of the most famous french-speaking singer around the world until he died in 1978 at the age of 49 years.



Among the famous Belgian singers, I can name the two groups Hooverphonic (Mad about you) and The Wallace Collection (Daydream).






















Belgium is also considered as the country of the comics. Many characters were created by Belgians. The cow-boy Lucky Luke was created by Morris, The Smurfs by Peyo, Tintin by Hergé or Spirou by Dupuis.























































Last but not least, one of the most famous Belgian actor is known all around the world. As Austria, Belgium has its own Arnold Schwarzenegger: Jean Claude Van Damme.
He was born in Brussels in 1960. At first, "the muscles of Brussels", as we call him in the United States, was a famous martial Arts fighter and then was elected Mr. Belgium. In 1982, he went to the United States and in 1988, he got known with the movie Bloodsport. After that, he started acting in many more action movies and soon became a legend in fight movies.