* Investigates the manifestation of decadence through art* Includes works by Félicien Rops, Erwin Olaf, Jan Fabre, Man Ray, Marc Lagrange, Kees van Dongen, and never-before published paintings by Roberto FerriTheater collective Abattoir Fermé and the Kasteel van Gaasbeek join forces in their search for the essence of decadence. By means of the works of artists such as Félicien Rops, Erwin Olaf, Jan Fabre, Man Ray, Marc Langrange, and many more, they investigate the manifestation of decadence. Disappointed by the world's imperfection, artists and intellectuals at the end of the 19th century expressed their disapproval for the ruling values. Art, beauty, and luxury seemed to them to be the only way out of the bourgeois reality. In contemporary art also this fine line between sensual refinement and perversity, aesthetics and the morbid, taboo and norm is a recurring theme. This book defies you to rhyme those extremes, face the duality and capture the symptoms of decadence within our society.Text in Dutch and English.Stef Lemous is a Flemish actor and director and artistic leader of theatre collective Abattoir Fermé. In all his projects he tries to unravel the 'world behind the world', fantasies and rituals.