Le Grand Café

This magnificent building stands in the middle of Brussels beside the old Bourse, and I guess once kept the financiers of the city fed and watered as they traded their way to success or ruin in the industrial expansion of nineteenth century Belgium. Fortunately the hostelry didn’t seem to be suffering any lack of customers when I last saw it, even though the Bourse ceased trading quite a while ago.

To me the shapes and patterns of the building are more important than the colours, making this a natural subject for a monochrome painting. I think I’m quite happy with the result.