Villa Mistral, Belgium

Villa Mistral is an abandoned house in Belgium. The bright colours and unusual decor of this location are certainly interesting. This was the home of a lady with a love of Provençal /Mediterranean style. The phrase “La Caresse du Mistral”, meaning “The caress of the Mistral”, is painted on the wall. Mistral is the name of the stong north-westerly wind that blows through southern France and the Mediterranean in the winter months.

Optical illusions and Provençal style

A car accident had left the owner paraplegic. There is a glass-covered walkway which connects to another house, where other family members would have lived. The owner died in the mid-2000s, and it appears the house has not yet found a new owner.

The house was built in the late 1990s. The ground floor of the house is open plan, with a spacious living room and adjoining kitchen/dining area. This living area is bright and airy, with a tall ceiling and many windows. The walls are painted a mottled orange-yellow-brown pattern.

“Trompe l’oeil” paintings decorate the walls of Villa Mistral; an art style that aims produce an optical illusion of three-dimensional objects. There are paintings of ivy, statues, and birds adorning the walls. At first glance, the statues and ivy appear to be real objects instead of carefully planned art and application of faux shadows.

In the middle of the living room, above the sofa, is a rectangular platform. There is a tray full of seeds on the table below, suggesting perhaps a birdcage may have once sat here. It is also possible the platform may have been for a cat, on the other hand. It is an unquestionably unusual feature, as well as a seemingly enigmatic one.

Villa Mistral 2018 vs 2019

We explored this house in the early spring 2018, as part of our Easter Road Trip across Belgium and France. There was a fire in the summer of 2019, destroying a large part of the roof and upper floor rooms. The house is now in a less photogenic state, with charred roof fragments littering the floor.