The Wolfers Collection. The story behind the masterpieces

The King Baudouin Foundation’s Wolfers Collection comprises over 150 masterpieces and numerous archives of Philippe Wolfers and his son, Marcel, the leading lights of the Wolfers Frères jewellery business. It is now recognised as one of the most important collections of work by Philippe Wolfers, who is internationally acknowledged as a leading figure of Belgian Art Nouveau, as well as a pioneer of Belgian Art Deco.

The masterpieces, archives, documents and photos in the collection are a formidable testimony to this important period in Belgium, which helped put Brussels on the international stage. The Wolfers Frères jewellery business succeeded in combining the artistic and technological avant-garde, as well as meeting the expectations of a changing society.

Thanks to various patrons and philanthropists, the King Baudouin Foundation has been able to acquire and enrich this collection and to make it accessible to everyone at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.

Lavishly illustrated, this publication sheds light on the Wolfers Collection, as well as on the rise, development and the decline of the Wolfers family jewellery business between 1850 and 1975. Naturally, the focus is on Philippe Wolfers. Some of the emblematic pieces of jewellery he created and the particular themes he used for his creations, as well as archival documents, are detailed in boxes.