Enter the world of Pierre-Yves Renkin

In suburban Brussels, hidden down a side street, a group of frogs sit at a bar, sharing a few drinks and having a hit of pool. Nearby, another gathering of amphibians ready their instruments for an orchestral performance. Frogs… drinking beer and playing violins? That’s not possible, you say. But it is – in ‘The World of Pierre-Yves Renkin.’

This quirky exhibition in an out-of-the-way Brussels museum reanimates, well, frankly dead animals through the ‘art’ of taxidermy. The frogs – the heroes of the display –are positioned delicately in tableaux, complete with tiny billiard balls, beer mugs, violin bows and drum kits. They are joined by an assortment of other preserved and stuffed animals and some more fantastical model recreations. In one room, a (prematurely deceased) baby chimpanzee sits curled up under a glass dome with a sad look in its eyes. Across the room is what looks to be a shrunken human head! Close by, an imposing and eerily lifelike recreation of an extinct Dodo bird looks down at visitors from a glass enclosure. Renkin created the bird, well-known for its cameo appearance in Alice in Wonderland, from feathers, skin, eyes and feet of still-existing birds (think pigeons’ feathers and emu’s feet) which most closely matched the original.

The exhibition also features obscure objects Renkin has spent his life collecting, from botanical models of flowers to the skull of a calf born with two heads. Hard to forget is the large range of model eyeballs which stare out from their cabinet as you peruse one of the rooms. The Belgian taxidermist and curiosity-collector began his career at Belgium’s museum of natural history at the age of 19. He has previously described taxidermy as the meticulous and labour-intensive art of “recreating a magnificent object that will come back to life”.

The museum housing Renkin’s collection is a 30 minute trip outside the city, but this meander through the suburbs gives a glimpse of Brussels outside the waffle-and-cobble-stone dominated centre. Hidden down a side street, the museum space is a small warren of about four small rooms, decorated with blue and white tiles typical of that part of the world and ornate wooden display cabinets housing the curiosities.

The collection is small but entry is free. So if you’re looking for something in the Belgian capital beyond waffles and a little boy statue peeing in public, take a trip out to see Piere-Yves and his frogs.

“The World of Pierre-Yves Renkin” is on display at the Museum of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert until March 20.

Looking for something in the Belgian capital beyond waffles and a little boy statue peeing in public? Take a trip to see Piere-Yves!