In 2026, Gaasbeek Castle welcomes artist Clara Spilliaert (b. 1993, Tokio) for her first solo museum exhibition. With a selection of existing work, as well as a new creation, she enters into dialogue with this place and its rich history.

Spilliaert's artistic practice weaves personal experiences with historical reflections and elements of nature. She moved from Japan to Belgium at the age of 16, which resulted in thousands of intimate diary drawings that formed the basis of her visual language. Today, she works with a wide range of media - from drawings and murals to ceramic sculptures and site-specific installations.

It begins with attentive observation - as in Calendar (2017), in which her changing city garden reflects an inner world - and she then develops images that are finely balanced between the mundane and the allegorical. Spilliaert delves into the relationship of humans with their bodies and their environment. In so doing, she creates new narratives in which the lives of people, animals and plants are intertwined.

Clara Spilliaert is also creating a new work for Gaasbeek, with the castle's parterre garden playing a central role. What happens when the picnic blanket becomes a stage? Spilliaert explores the tension between private and public, control and rebellion, surface and depth.