The magical, mystical Folon Foundation

On the edge of the great Forêt de Soignes, in the picturesque grounds of the Château de La Hulpe, is one of the most surprising museums in Belgium. The Fondation Folon is dedicated to the life and work of Jean-Michel Folon, a Belgian artist who became renowned in Europe and the United States as an illustrator, sculpture and painter. His work most famously adorned magazine covers such as The New Yorker and Time, and brought his art to a mass audience.

Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon’s ‘Everyman’ statue, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

The museum is a joyous monument to his career. I mean, how many museums have a giant book that opens to reveal the entrance to the museum? It was all a bit Scooby Doo, where the hidden door featured frequently. What awaits you inside is a magical trip through the life and mind of Folon. It is a magnificent place that we arrived at with little expectation, but left feeling uplifted.

Fully part of the experience is a walk through the grounds of the château to get there. When you do arrive, the museum is spread across numerous buildings in a farmhouse that belonged to the Château de La Hulpe. It is a tranquil place surrounded by trees and also has an excellent brasserie with outdoor tables with views across the surrounding countryside. We ended up spending several hours here.

Folon was born in Brussels but as a child lived in Genval, a short distance from where the Foundation is now. He left Belgium when he was only 21, referring to the country of his birth as a “mental prison”, and took up residence on the outskirts of Paris. He spent the rest of his life living outside Belgium, at the end of his life in Monaco where he is buried. It was the Wallonian countryside that he chose as the site for the foundation though.

It’s an inspired choice. The whole thing is such a fantastic experience, from the beautiful natural surroundings to the journey of discovery that the route through the museum takes you on. Although some of his work as an illustrator was familiar, I didn’t know much about Folon. How he had a long standing working relationship with human rights and environmental groups, and his commitment to social justice causes. His work seems light even when tackling troubling issues.

A constant in Folon’s career was his fear of the dehumanising effect modern life had on people. In particular life in cities, where he said “we live surrounded by boxes.” His most famous artistic creation is a man dressed in a wide brimmed hat and and long overcoat, a 1960s and 70s Everyman struggling against the tide of modern life. We first came across this character as a sculpture in a roundabout near the entrance to the château park.

The Château de La Hulpe looks every inch a French Loire Valley château. Built in 1842 for the Marquis Maximilien de Béthune, it was bought by the wealthy industrialist Ernest Solvay in 1893. Solvay made his cash from inventing something called the ammonia-soda process. The sodium carbonate it produced was, and is, used in many industrial and household products. It was a process that founded an industrial empire.

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Folon Foundation, Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

Château de La Hulpe, La Hulpe, Wallonia, Belgium

The family gave the castle to the government on 1968, while you can’t visit the interior the grounds are open to the public and offer some lovely walking trails on the edge of the Forêt de Soignes. We strolled through it on a rainy but hot late summer day after arriving at the upmarket village of La Hulpe. The château grounds provide the perfect location for the Folon collection, he loved nature and was an early environmentalist.

This display of nature though is barely a match for the wondrous art and sculpture found inside the museum. If you’re in Brussels, the trip to La Hulpe is a rewarding one.