This acrylic on concrete mural entitled “Qu'est-ce qu'un intellectuel“ (What is an intellectual?) was created in 1987 by Roger Somville and the Public Art Group. What does it really represent? A student is climbing the steps of knowledge, which is symbolically presented as going back through time, with the ancient thinker at the top, the Renaissance thinker in the middle and the contemporary thinker at the bottom of the steps. This painting questions the status of the intellectual, in a context where the human species has acquired the capacity to self-destruct. The artist is showing us that intelligence must be used for safeguarding the human species, as well as peace and social justice.
So from now on you won't be able to pass along here without asking yourself about the status of the intellectual.
Name
" Qu'est-ce qu'un intellectuel ? " (What is an intellectual?)
Date created
1987
Creator
Roger Somville and the Public Art Group
Function
This painting questions the status of the intellectual, a pertinent question in a university town: “What knowledge have we come to look for here?”
To begin with
- Acrylic on concrete mural.
- Surface area of 410 m².
- Sponsor : the UCLouvain.
- Several characters looking as though they are dreaming, worried, and anxious.
- Dominant colours : blue and white.
- Artist's point of view on the side wall.
- Main wall : symbolic representation of knowledge going back through time.
To see
Somville created the Public Art Group in 1979, with which he produced his work "Qu'est-ce qu'un intellectuel" - When he was young he was strongly influenced by the work and aesthetics of the Mexican mural painters (especially Diego Riviera, one of whose murals can be seen in the Rue du Sablon).
Other work nearby : Sculpture of the 24-Hour Cycle Ride
Artists' corner
Born in 1923 in Brussels, Roger Somville became a member of the Belgian Communist Party and a defender of realism against abstract art. He was an activist for “the creation of a public art extolling life and the work of mankind, their struggles, their suffering, their joys, their victories and their hopes; an art to be placed within everyone's reach, where they pass by and where they live.” He decorated a number of public buildings in Belgium, including the Hankar metro station in Brussels. In his works, the setting and the space are undefined, it is mankind who is placed at the centre of his art.
The little extra
A privileged place has been dedicated to art in the very creation of Louvain-la-Neuve. Any project manager of a new building in the town or in the science park must allocate 2% of their development budget to the installation of works of art.
