Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium

Salvador_Dali

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 1904 – 23 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( DAH-lee, dah-LEE, Catalan: [səlβəˈðo ðəˈli], Spanish: [salβaˈðoɾ ðaˈli]), was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.
Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dalí received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid. Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements. He moved closer to Surrealism in the late 1920s and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming one of its leading exponents. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931, and is one of the most famous Surrealist paintings. Dalí lived in France throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) before leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved commercial success. He returned to Spain in 1948 where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his "nuclear mysticism" style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism, and recent scientific developments.Dalí's artistic repertoire included painting, graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography, at times in collaboration with other artists. He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behavior often drew more attention than his artwork. His public support for the Francoist regime, his commercial activities and the quality and authenticity of some of his late works have also been controversial. His life and work were an important influence on other Surrealists, pop art and contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.There are two major museums devoted to Salvador Dalí's work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.

Roger_Arnaldez

Roger Arnaldez (13 September 1911 – 7 April 2006, aged 94) was a French professor of Islamic studies born in Paris, and also a publisher of Philo.
Arnaldez was elected a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques 10 February 1986 and présided the Académie in 1997. He is also associate member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium and corresponding member of the Cairo Academy of Arabic Language.
He was quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his famous speech which led to the Regensburg controversy.
Roger Arnaldez was also interested in an English author, Gilbert K. Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936), to whom he devoted a book.

François_Crépin

François Crépin (30 October 1830 – 30 April 1903) was an important botanist of the 19th century and director of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium.
Crépin was born in Rochefort, Belgium. The genus Crepinella (Araliaceae) is named after him. As a taxonomist he circumscribed numerous plants within the genus Rosa. He died in Brussels.
His Belgian herbarium and his herbier des roses are kept in the collections of the Botanic Garden Meise.

Jan_August_Hendrik_Leys

Henri Leys, Hendrik Leys or Jan August Hendrik, Baron Leys (18 February 1815 – 26 August 1869) was a Belgian painter and printmaker. He was a leading representative of the historical or Romantic school in Belgian art and became a pioneer of the Realist movement in Belgium. His history and genre paintings and portraits earned him a European-wide reputation and his style was influential on artists in and outside Belgium.