Herge & Magritte — Belgian Heroes Finally Honored

TIME.com posts an excellent article by Leo Cendrowicz about Herge and Magritte, two Belgian artists who now have museums dedicated to them.

Georges Remi, better known as Herge, is the creator of boy reporter Tintin and his pal Snowy. A museum showcasing his life and creations recently opened in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.

Situated in Louvain-La-Neuve, a new town some 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Brussels, the Hergé Museum is a stunning piece of architecture. The displays focus not only on Tintin, but also the many other comic-strip characters Hergé created, and the myriad influences on his work.

Mr. Cendrowicz also discusses the new Magritte Museum in Brussels. Magritte, perhaps best know for his work “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe), was admired by Herge, but didn’t return the good will.

Hergé admired Magritte, and even bought one of his paintings. Magritte, however, saw Tintin as too colonial, Catholic and conservative. In the 1930s, Hergé drew the cover for a political pamphlet for Léon Degrelle, leader of the Belgian fascists; at the same time, Magritte designed a caricature of Degrelle looking into a mirror and seeing an image of Adolf Hitler looking back at him.