[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2284967163.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tBelgium\u2019s crushing 4\u20131 victory over the United States on Tuesday night did more than send the Red Devils into the World Cup quarterfinals. It also subtly brought one of Belgium\u2019s greatest artists into the spotlight before a global audience.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs\u00a0Artsy<\/em>\u00a0first reported, Belgium\u2019s away kit is an explicit homage to the Surrealist painter Ren\u00e9 Magritte, transforming imagery from one of his most celebrated paintings into one of the tournament\u2019s most distinctive uniforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tCreated by Adidas, Belgium\u2019s robin\u2019s egg-blue jersey draws on Magritte\u2019s 1931 painting\u00a0Voice of Space (La voix des airs)<\/em>. Rather than simply reproducing the work, the designers transformed the painting\u2019s floating metallic bells into a repeating pattern of pink and blue soccer balls. Thin horizontal lines woven throughout the fabric echo the markings of a soccer pitch, while the jersey\u2019s pale blue base recalls the expansive skies that appear throughout Magritte\u2019s paintings.<\/p>\n \n\tAnother reference appears beneath the collar, where the phrase\u00a0Ceci n\u2019est pas un maillot<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cThis is not a jersey\u201d) is printed in Magritte\u2019s familiar script\u2014a cheeky nod to his iconic painting\u00a0The Treachery of Images<\/em>, depicting a pipe, beneath which he has written \u201cThis is not a pipe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe Magritte design continues a recent tradition of Belgium using its away kit to celebrate the country\u2019s cultural identity. Earlier editions honored Belgium\u2019s cycling culture at Euro 2016, the Tomorrowland music festival at the 2022 World Cup, and Herg\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0Tintin<\/em>\u00a0at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s an unusually thoughtful collaboration between fine art and sport. Rather than simply placing a famous painting on a jersey, Adidas borrowed Magritte\u2019s visual language\u2014and his sense of playful contradiction\u2014to create a uniform that rewards a second looking. With Belgium still alive in the tournament, that look is being taken by millions.<\/p>\n \n\tThe match itself was one of Belgium\u2019s most complete performances of the tournament. After surviving a dramatic 3\u20132 extra-time victory over Senegal in the Round of 32, the Belgians overwhelmed the USMNT, which had advanced in a 2\u20130 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The convincing result booked the Belgian national team, currently ranked eighth in the world, to a quarterfinal showdown with Spain, ranked third in the world and one of the tournament favorites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/belgium-magritte-world-cup-jersey-adidas-us-win-1234791592\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2284967163.jpg?w=1024″] Belgium\u2019s crushing 4\u20131 victory over the United States on Tuesday night did more than send the Red Devils into the World Cup quarterfinals. It also subtly brought one of Belgium\u2019s greatest artists into the spotlight before a global audience. As\u00a0Artsy\u00a0first reported, Belgium\u2019s away kit is an explicit homage to the Surrealist painter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2033702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2033702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2033702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2033702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2033702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}