Knokke
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Knokke is a coastal city in Belgium, traditionally the most up-market seaside resort in Belgium. It hosted the EXPRMNTL film festival at its casino in 1963, 1967 and 1974. It also annually hosts the World Press Photo exhibition.
Artist colony
Originally a simple vacation haven for the humble city folk of Brussels, in the early 1800s a lot of painters, such as James Ensor, Alfred Verwee and others, started to frequent the small hamlet to paint its beautiful vistas. The artists rented a small miller's cottage and founded there the Cercle des Artistes in 1880. It gradually became a resort town with upscale clientele, restaurants and shops.
Casino
Knokke also has one of Belgium's ten casinos. In this casino you can find wall paintings of Keith Haring, Rene Magritte and Paul Delvaux. In the Kroonluchterzaal (Dutch for Chandelier room) you will see a huge chandelier of 6 tons made of Venetian crystal. The chandelier has a diameter of 8.5 m and is 6.5 m high. Some 22,000 pieces of glass were used and 2,700 lamps light up the main hall. It was designed by Antwerp architect Joseph Selis and designer Al. David.
