Horta and the Grammar of Art Nouveau offers an innovative insight into the architectural approach of Victor Horta (1861-1947), whose creations between 1893 and 1905 were seminal to the development of Art Nouveau architecture. This book presents a new perspective on the work, context and toolbox of the most famous Belgian architect, teasing out what remains essential to Victor Horta's Art Nouveau, apart from his style and its typical plantlike vocabulary. International experts shed new light on Horta's architectural sources and on how he conceived of his designs and innovated the use of structure and light. The book also discusses the reception of Horta within the historiography of the Modern Movement and the relation between his work and the colonial enterprise of King Leopold II.

This publication is amply illustrated with maps, plans, plaster models and exceptional unpublished photographic material commissioned by Victor Horta himself. These archival sources are complemented by a series of photographs specially made for this book by the architectural photographer Maxime Delvaux. They offer a contemporary view of Horta's buildings from the angle of the various themes discussed throughout the book.