19. Pavilion of Human Passions

While the sculptor Jef Lambeaux busied himself with the monumental work entitled the "Human Passions", the architect Victor Horta was given the task of designing a pavilion to house it in the Cinquantenaire Park. (It was the first public commission received by this architect from Ghent.) Having been inaugurated on 1 October 1899, the small building was closed four days later in response to the violent indignation provoked by the sculptor's creation; with its length of twelve metres and height of eight, the bas-relief offended the public by its unvarnished depiction of real human passions… While the pavilion had been designed to be open, doors were fitted in 1910 in an effort to reconcile morality and technical considerations as the sculptor felt that his work presented better in a more intimate atmosphere with a single overhead light. Despite being incomplete (temporary doors and unadorned pediment), the pavilion occupies an essential place in the architecture of the new century with its hints to Art Nouveau in certain details.

Victor Horta and Neoclassicism: Essential figure of the Art Nouveau movement, Victor Horta can here be seen producing a Neoclassical building. Demonstrating his mastery of the canons of Antiquity, he adapted the typology of the Greek temple to his own architectural vocabulary. Thus, this project can be seen as a link between two architectural movements which are often considered as opposed to each other.