Beneath Brussels, one of the most visited public art trails stretches out like a string of pearls. The Brussels metro network, which opened in 1976, is currently undergoing various renovations and upgrades, whilst new stations are being embellished with works of art in line with urban development above ground.

In the 1960s, somewhat later than other European capitals, Brussels began construction of an underground metro network. This was a period strongly marked by community and urban issues, such as the demarcation of language boundaries, the Organic Law of 1962 on spatial planning and the ‘Brusselisation’ process. In 1969, as part of this colossal construction project, the Artistic Commission for the Brussels Metro was established to advise on and oversee the artistic design of the stations. The main requirement was that the decoration should ensure that users did not think about safety.