| | Impress Your Friends with 20 Famous Belgians Apr 15, 2011 10:03 am It’s a standing joke that it’s impossible to name five famous Belgians. However this tiny country has its fair share of important historical and modern day heroes. So the next time you are down at the pub, impress your friends with not only five, but the following 20 famous Belgians:  Self-portrait by Peter Paul RubensFamous Belgians in Art - Although now there are indications oil painting probably originated in Asia, Jan Van Eyck, of Limburg, is known as the ‘father of oil painting,’ for his mastery of the technique.
- World famous baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens, was knighted by both Philip IV, King of Spain, and Charles I, King of England.
- If you know anything at all about Belgian art, you’ll have come across René Magritte and his famous painting of a pipe, The Treachery of Images . The Magritte Museum in Brussels contains some of his most famous works such as The Empire of Light.
- The architecture world owes Victor Horta thanks for his stunning Art Nouveau designs; Four of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Famous Belgians in Music - The world of music would be very different had Belgian musician and inventor, Adolphe Sax, not created the saxophone.
- Arguably the world’s most famous harmonica player is Belgian, Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans, who became a became NEA Jazz Master in 2009.
- Legendary on the French ‘chanson’ and pop music scene is Jacques Brel, who sings about his birth place in his song Bruxelles.
 Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's Famous Belgians in Film - Most people know modern-day action movie actor, Jean-Claude van Damme is ‘The Muscles from Brussels.’
- Fewer seem aware the lovely Audrey Hepburn,of Breakfast at Tiffany’s fame, was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels.
Famous Belgians in Literature - If you grew up reading TinTin’s adventures, you probably know his creator, Belgian Georges Remi, as Hergé.
- Georges Simenon, is one of Belgium’s most prolific authors, with his world famous detective series about Commissaire Maigret, of the Paris police.
Famous Belgians in Sports - One of Belgium’s best loved sports is cycling and Eddy Merckx, five time winner of the Tour de France, is the national hero.
- Tennis lovers know Belgian star, Kim Clijsters, who was ranked number 1 in the World, in both singles and doubles.
Famous Belgians in Science  Gerardus Mercator - Belgian Roman Catholic Priest, Georges Lemaître, proposed what he called the ‘hypothesis of the primeval atom’ which would later become known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe.
- Another man of the cloth, Reverand Julius Nieuwland, created the synthetic rubber that led to the invention of neoprene by DuPont.
- Collectors have Belgian, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, to thank for the invention of the early plastic, Bakelite.
- Belgian bacteriologist, Jules Bordet, developed the first vaccine against the whooping cough as well as the Wassermann test for syphilis.
- Flemish cartographer, Gerardus Mercator, devised a technique to produce globes and is remembered for the Mercator projection world map.
Famous Belgians in Fashion - The Fortune 500 company CEO and fashion designer Liz Claiborne, was born Elizabeth Claiborne Ortenberg, in Brussels.
- In 2005, the New York Times described Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten, “one of fashion’s most cerebral designers.” His eccentric style is world famous.
Although I’ve listed 20 of my favourite famous Belgians here, there are many, many more. You can discover others at Famousbelgians.net and Wikipedia’s List of Notable Belgians. Want to learn more Belgian trivia? Check out our post 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Belgium. Who’s your favourite famous Belgian? Impress Your Friends with 20 Famous Belgians is a post from: Expat Life in Belgium, Travel and Photography | CheeseWeb All content copyright Alison Cornford-Matheson and CheeseWeb Related posts: - 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Belgium
- Musée Magritte Museum Brussels
- World Heritage Sites in Belgium and Abroad
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