Belgium’s crushing 4–1 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’s greatest artists into the spotlight before a global audience.
As Artsy first reported, Belgium’s away kit is an explicit homage to the Surrealist painter René Magritte, transforming imagery from one of his most celebrated paintings into one of the tournament’s most distinctive uniforms.
Created by Adidas, Belgium’s robin’s egg-blue jersey draws on Magritte’s 1931 painting Voice of Space (La voix des airs). Rather than simply reproducing the work, the designers transformed the painting’s 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’s pale blue base recalls the expansive skies that appear throughout Magritte’s paintings.
Another reference appears beneath the collar, where the phrase Ceci n’est pas un maillot (“This is not a jersey”) is printed in Magritte’s familiar script—a cheeky nod to his iconic painting The Treachery of Images, depicting a pipe, beneath which he has written “This is not a pipe.”
The Magritte design continues a recent tradition of Belgium using its away kit to celebrate the country’s cultural identity. Earlier editions honored Belgium’s cycling culture at Euro 2016, the Tomorrowland music festival at the 2022 World Cup, and Hergé’s Tintin at Euro 2024.
It’s an unusually thoughtful collaboration between fine art and sport. Rather than simply placing a famous painting on a jersey, Adidas borrowed Magritte’s visual language—and his sense of playful contradiction—to create a uniform that rewards a second looking. With Belgium still alive in the tournament, that look is being taken by millions.
The match itself was one of Belgium’s most complete performances of the tournament. After surviving a dramatic 3–2 extra-time victory over Senegal in the Round of 32, the Belgians overwhelmed the USMNT, which had advanced in a 2–0 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.
