Art-world insiders bring their decades-spanning assemblage of treasures home to Brussels
• Stéphanie Busuttil and her husband, Sébastien Janssen, have something of a collecting habit. “We adore attending auctions and hunting for things wherever we travel,” she declares. “Within the decorative arts, we more or less like everything.” That “everything” stretches from silverware and crockery to rugs and furniture.
They are equally passionate about fine art. He runs the wittily named “Sorry We’re Closed” contemporary gallery in the center of Brussels, while she was the longtime companion of the playful and provocative French artist César Baldaccini (better known simply by his first name), who passed away in 1998. César’s creations are almost everywhere you look in the Busuttil-Janssen household. The gooey-looking bronze-based dining table is part of his Expansion series; tiny bronze insects stand at attention in the master bedroom, and plaster sculptures populate numerous corners and tables. Meanwhile, the coffee table in the sitting room is actually a supersize bronze cast César made of playboy Gunther Sachs’s hand, encased in a plexiglass box for protection.
Busuttil and César met in 1989 when she was 22 and he 46 years her senior. “He had so much intelligence, charm, and charisma that he seduced everyone,” she recalls. “But he was also extremely complex…
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An Adam McEwen swing sculpture and a Thomas Downing painting hang in the stairwell of Stéphanie Busuttil and Sébastien Janssen’s Brussels house.
In the sitting room, a Jean Royère polar bear chair nestles among works by Ugo Rondinone, Jeremy Deprez, Allan McCollum, and Stefan Rinck. Lamp by Serge Mouille; Edward Fields rug.
In the living room, 19th-century Japanese gilded-wood temple flowers sit on top of a Louis Majorelle art nouveau desk. Bronze bear-paws stool and blue glazed ceramic vase, both by Eric Croes; custom sofas wear a Fadini Borghi fabric. Rug by Nobilis.
A Kenneth Noland painting hangs above a 1970s Maison Jansen table in the dining room; sculpture and lamp both by César
In the entrance hall, César sculptures sit atop a 1970s Angelo Mangiarotti table.
In the sitting room, a Jean Royère polar bear chair nestles among works by Ugo Rondinone, Jeremy Deprez, Allan McCollum, and Stefan Rinck. Lamp by Serge Mouille; Edward Fields rug.
Busuttil sits on a Billy Haines boudoir chair beneath a mounted Louise Nevelson sculpture in the sitting room. Plaster side table by John Dickinson; bronze hand sculpture by César in plexiglass cube.
The dining room boasts a bronze-based César table, a César sculpture in the corner, and a piece by Urs Fischer atop the mantel. 1970s McGuire bamboo chairs.
En Eddie Martinez painting livens up a dining-room corner.
In the brown lacquer–walled library, a Josh Sperling painting and a portrait of Stéphanie and Sébastien by Alejandra Hernández hang above a sofa and pillows, both wearing Le Manach fabrics.
A Jansson Stegner painting hangs above an Ado Chale table in the master bedroom. Bronze sculpture by César.
A Jeremy Deprez painting is the star of another bedroom.
The windows in Edouard’s bedroom are covered with roman shades of a Jim Thompson fabric; IKEArug. Vintage 1940s french ceramic floor lamp with shade of a Josef Frank fabric.