The Virgin
You don’t have to visit a museum to see a painting by Michaël Borremans; you can simply go to the City Pavilion! On the bell cage just above the lift door you can spot a relatively small painting by the artist which portrays a girl in a black dress with a white collar. Her eyes shoot piercing beams of light at the City Pavilion.
Borremans called the painting ‘The Virgin’ referring to the virgin of Ghent and the Virgin Mary who can be seen on the world famous Ghent Altarpiece.
Borremans painted the portrait straight onto the bell cage concrete. A remarkable detail is the brush strokes next to the portrait, which Borremans left deliberately, as if he had rubbed his brushes clean next to his canvas.
Belgian top artist Michaël Borremans lives and works in Ghent, and it was therefore evident for him to leave his mark on Ghent’s public spaces.