Works by Ai Weiwei are on display at Lempertz Brussels as part of the retrospective The Art of Defiance, the Cologne-based auction house announced on October 11. The show, staged by Patrick Derom Gallery, is billed as the first major retrospective of the Chinese artist in Belgium and runs from September 19 to November 14, 2026, in Brussels. Lempertz's Brussels rooms share the Rue du Grand Cerf address with the gallery, placing the auction house inside the retrospective's footprint. The exhibition traces more than thirty years of Ai Weiwei's practice across photography, sculpture and installation. Early material includes the Study of Perspective photographic series from 1995 to 2011, shown alongside the Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola Logo from 2015, in which the artist sets ancient Chinese heritage against a global consumer emblem. Later developments include toy-brick compositions such as Illumination from 2019 and button works such as F.U.C.K. from 2024, plus sculptures including Grapes from 2007 and Strength from 2019 and large installations such as Left Right Studio Material from 2018 and Backpack Snake from 2008. Running through the show are the questions that have shaped Ai Weiwei's career: how power is exercised, how cultural memory is built or erased, and what defending individual and artistic freedom means in practice. Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei has combined art-making with outspoken activism, and his work has repeatedly drawn confrontation with the Chinese authorities, including detention and the demolition of his studio. A parallel exhibition at the Musee Emile Verhaeren in Sint-Amands explores the link between the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren and Ai Qing, the artist's father, who was the first to translate Verhaeren's poetry into Chinese. Hannibal Books is publishing a catalogue to accompany the retrospective, with contributions from Edouard Derom, John Tancock, Thomas Crow, Lee Ambrozy, Rik Hemmerijckx and Lieven Van Den Abeele.