What Happens When You Love Paintings,
Old Furniture,
and Small Things From Far Away?
Rachel´s Story
Rachel Le Bacq has always loved looking at art.
When she was young, her father would bring home art books. She sat with them for hours, not studying — just enjoying. The colours. The faces. The way a single line could say so much.
Later, she found a place in Ghent called Hotsy Totsy. It was a small art café run by Guido Claus. Artists came there. Antiques dealers. People who loved beautiful, strange, old things. Rachel felt at home. She talked for hours with Guido, with writers, with anyone who loved objects as much as she did. She even discussed art with Sylvia Kristel and literature with Hugo Claus.
Those conversations stayed with her.
Off the Main Road
Then she went to Togo. Not the easy path — she travelled to small villages, far off the main roads. Something opened up in her there. The shapes, the materials, the quiet presence of everyday objects. She came home and knew she had to go deeper. So she studied African philology at university and wrote her thesis on the Songye tribe.
Around that time, she fell in love with the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. His brushstrokes felt free. Childlike, but wise. He gave her permission to trust her own instincts.
A Natural Mix
She opened a small gallery. She put her paintings next to African art, next to an old chair or a small statue. To her, it was natural.
But she noticed that not everyone understood that mix right away. Some people needed something gentler. So she started painting women — each one different, each with her own face and her own mood.
Now she paints every week. She hunts for antique furniture with good bones. She picks up small sculptures from different corners of the world. She finds statues that feel like they remember something.
A World of Collections
Paintings, furniture, small sculptures, statues — all in one room, because that's where they belong.
The paintings are hers. The rest she found along the way: pieces with heart and soul — the kind she couldn't help but fall in love with.
She hopes you'll feel the same.