Creten Victor, born on December 8, 1878, in Schaarbeek (Brussels), was a versatile Belgian artist with an impressive career as a painter, watercolorist, poster designer, and architect. His artistic journey began in 1893 when he studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
On December 24, 1904, he married Jeanne Denis, but after eleven years of marriage, he entered into a second union with Marguerite Crespin, daughter of the painter Adolphe Crespin, with whom he had a daughter. From 1909 to 1920, he was a member of the “Société Centrale d’Architecture de Belgique.”
In 1921, Victor Creten was appointed as a lecturer in decorative composition at the Institut Bisschoffsheim in Brussels. As a painter, he excelled in realistically depicting landscapes, seascapes, park and garden scenes, beach scenes, figures, and still lifes, with a notable emphasis on realism and a luminous touch. He was a pioneer in the Art Deco style.
In addition to his painting, Creten designed posters, including notable contributions for the 1910 World Exhibition, where his 1907 posters were considered precursors to the Art Deco style.
In collaboration with Henri Vaes, a Belgian architect, Creten created impressive architectural works, including the building for civil engineering in Brussels for the 1910 World Exhibition, the Renault garage in Etterbeek (Batavierenstraat 1909), and the statue of Justus Lipsius in Leuven (Bondgenotenlaan).
As an architect, Victor Creten contributed to the reconstruction of the village of Pervijze after World War I and designed notable buildings such as the Grand Bazar and the Bon Marché on Nieuwstraat in Brussels.
Victor Creten passed away on March 5, 1966, in Brussels, but his artistic legacy and contributions to both painting and architecture continue to be admired and remembered.