"I paint watercolors every day. It’s sort of like a notebook that’s been with me my whole life — ever since I can remember. And from these watercolor sketches emerge sculptures, paintings, sometimes films, and sometimes performances."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I paint watercolors every day..." Listen to the full interview on the podcast: "Au cœur de la création : Jean-Michel Othoniel, artiste sur RTL : Moi, ce que je veux faire, c’est des œuvres qui vivent après moi" | June 2025
Videos: DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world. Until October 4, 2026. @fondationboghossian | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #Interview #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I paint watercolors every day. It’s sort of like a notebook that’s been with me my whole life — ever since I can remember. And from these watercolor sketches emerge sculptures, paintings, sometimes films, and sometimes performances."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I lived in Rome for two years, from 1995 to 1996, in Villa Medici. It was an important period of personal revitalisation and an opportunity to look back on ancient history. My visits to the gardens of the Villa Borghese, Villa Adriana, Villa Lante and Villa d’Este offered moments of learning, admiration and contentment that deepened my love for gardens and their history, and in turn prompted a series of glass works that were suspended from the trees in the garden of the Villa Medici."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"I was still a student when I first went to Belgium, in the 1980s. We were there for a retrospective of the films of Marcel Broodthaers. I remember when I discovered his Jardin d’hiver at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and dined with his wife Maria Gilissen and her daughter Marie- Puck, who was then a teenager and fell asleep on the bench seats of the Falstaff brasserie. We were following in Magritte’s footsteps at a time when he did not yet have a museum, and we stood reverent before the empty house of Herman Daled, whose collection only existed in the form of a set of information sheets that could be consulted."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"Each pearl is therefore unique and has its place among a larger set, that together become constructions that can be endlessly reimagined: giant necklaces, ornamentation suggesting parts of the body, crystalline spirals, architectural jewels… Sculptures that blend utopias and imaginary worlds took form in my sketchbooks."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"With the collusion of families of glassmakers, it was in Murano that in 1997 I began work on Baroque pearls. This module arose out of a technical observation I made while I was working with the craftsmen, delicately gathering up the molten glass in the furnace: if the glass is damaged in some way, the scar it bears will leave a mark on the final piece. It was this flaw, this imperfection, that I asked the glassmaker to reproduce so that my pearls would display the trace of a wound, like a scarified body."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"My Kokoro are also more complex than they appear: being open in their centre, they act as arches or gateways, offering visitors a passageway to a world of spirituality and joy."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
"Since my childhood, to me Spain has represented a world apart, exoticism, joyfulness, a total change of scene, freedom."
DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.
Until October 4, 2026
Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels
#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture
!["I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.Until October 4, 2026Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6727243965205049682247_0_81455d3b57cf05c38ab44d01e3b7bfd5.jpg?o=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&h=07f7c70ae0eb5a56bf244665289cc97f)
!["I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.Until October 4, 2026Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6727454424526229601822_0_474f91965da83d1a8298f9fc849c74df.jpg?o=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&h=5d55df922875f36576f9fb8be2ea523d)
!["I lived in Miami for a few years during the 2000s. […] I loved the beauty of Florida’s vegetation – its colours, the turquoise or violet of the Atlantic, the multitude of wild flowers in the Everglades, the humidity, the nudity and the heat. It was said that for an American to leave home and drive down to Florida, it was like reaching the end of the world: a great many people came down to spend their final years there, and I loved the feeling of being cut off from everything. […] It was a period of pure heaven, far from the fury of the world."DIARY OF HAPPINESS｜More than a hundred works inspired by thirty years of travels around the world.Until October 4, 2026Boghossian Foundation | Villa Empain, Brussels#Othoniel #VillaEmpain #Art #Exhibition #Sculpture](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6727162135352649737166_0_3d3992de3b8f75b7177dfd5f04986950.jpg?o=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&h=2e0eaee2d21b724ad581813d5e482221)
