La Maison Cauchie
One of the finest works of Art Nouveau in Brussels, designed to advertise the artist couple Paul Cauchie and Caroline Voet
Similar studio museums...
- Kunststätte Bossard, Germany - another 'total artwork' designed by Johann Michael Bossard (1874-1950) and his wife in Lower Saxony
- Hortamuseum, Belgium - the Art Nouveau home of the Belgian architect Victor Horta (1861-1947)
Designed and built by Paul Cauchie (1875-1952) as a collaboration with his wife Caroline Voet (1875-1969), whom he met when they were both students at the Brussels Academy of Fine Art, the house was erected in 1905, the year the couple married, on a six metre square plot of land in Brussels. Cauchie intended that it would promote their artistic skills: his as a sgraffito artist and hers as an art teacher. With purpose-designed interiors, furniture and central studio, the house is an example of a 'total artwork', designed as a complete architectural and decorative project.
Visitors to the house today can view the couple's domestic interiors much as they appeared during their lifetimes, as well as a basement gallery exhibiting aspects of the Cauchie's art and lives.
