Stems of Light:
Day and Night at the Maison Horta
Victor Horta famously chose “the stem of the plant, not the flower,” favoring flow and continuity over superficial decoration. This guiding principle comes alive in how daylight travels through Maison Horta: entering at dawn, threading its way down the central staircase, and branching into adjoining rooms with help from parallel mirrors near the skylight. Hour by hour, the house’s contours transform—new hues and shadows emerge, mirroring the vitality of a living organism.
“Stems of Light” spotlights these evolving illuminations through a four-paneled luminaire object that charts subtle shifts in hue and intensity throughout the day. Each panel features a cut-out inspired by careful observation of how light enters the house at different times, reflecting Horta’s fascination with organic motifs and weaving them into a holistic vision of the building’s system. The installation also offers a rare nocturnal perspective through a prose piece titled “Moonlit Rendez-vous,” written during a solitary night in the house, capturing the gentle midnight creaks and the moonlight rippling across stained glass.
By inviting you to experience the house through these shifting illuminations— dawn’s soft color wash, afternoon’s vibrant glow, twilight’s lingering warmth, and the poetic stillness after dark—“Stems of Light” reveals how even the faintest beam can transform each corridor into a living stage. May you discover, as I did, that Horta’s “stem” continues to unfold, guiding us toward a deeper resonance with the spaces we inhabit.
Solo Exhibition at the Horta Museum
08.11.25 - 11.01.26
