De Vaartkapoen
Tom Frantzen · Place Sainctelette, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels
Photo: Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), taken 29 May 2021, resized, as published on Street Art Utopia (The Joke Is Built In (26 Photos), 31 October 2026).
A policeman topples forward on Place Sainctelette by the canal, because a “vaartkapoen”, a canal rascal, has grabbed his ankle from a manhole. Tom Frantzen’s statue is a wink at Agent 15, the policeman in Hergé’s Quick and Flupke. Source Source Checked
Removed Apr 2024 — BX1 reported on 29 April 2024 that the sculpture was taken away at the start of the rebuilding of Place Sainctelette and will be put back when the works are finished; visit.brussels also says it has been moved temporarily and cannot be seen. Where exactly it returns is not settled: BRUZZ wrote on 10 May 2024 that the minister’s office is in talks with Frantzen and wants the statue back in the same neighbourhood, after residents petitioned to keep it on the Molenbeek side. Brussels Mobility gives 2027 for the end of the works. We found no report that it has returned. Source Source Source Source Reported
💡 5 things to know
- Agent 15 trips upThe statue shows Agent 15 from Hergé’s comic Quick and Flupke, his foot caught by a vaartkapoen coming up through a manhole. Source Source Checked
- A wink at HergéThe Brussels region calls the Vaartkapoen, which makes the policeman stagger on Place Sainctelette, a wink at Hergé’s policeman in the adventures of Quick and Flupke. Source Checked
- Taken away for the new squarePlace Sainctelette is being rebuilt; BX1 describes the “symbolic removal” of the sculpture at the start of the works in April 2024 and says it will return when they end. Source Reported
- A petition to keep itAfter the removal, residents started a petition to keep the Vaartkapoen on its side of Place Sainctelette; it was backed by Johan Leman, among others, and had 304 of the hoped-for 500 signatures by 10 May 2024. Source Source Reported
- The same sculptor as Het ZinnekeFrantzen also made Het Zinneke, the bronze dog on Rue des Chartreux, and both are listed among his Brussels works. Source Source Source Checked
📍 Where it is
Place Sainctelette (Saincteletteplein), 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, by the canal. The statue has been removed while the square is rebuilt, so the button opens the map, not Street View. Source Source Source Checked
🗓️ Sightings
- 202129 May
Photo by Benoit Brummer
- 202429 Apr
BX1: removed for works
- 202430 Apr
BRUZZ: removed, to return after works
- 202410 May
BRUZZ: return spot undecided
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
“elle sera réintégrée lorsque le chantier sera terminé”
It will be put back once the works are finished.
“bedoeld als knipoog naar de politieagent van Hergé in de avonturen van Quick en Flupke”
Meant as a wink at Hergé’s policeman in the adventures of Quick and Flupke.
✅ The facts
- Year
- 1985 (the sculptor’s own list of works, BRUZZ and the list in Wikipedia’s Tom Frantzen article) or 1994 (Belgique Insolite); we lean to 1985, the year Frantzen himself gives Source Source Source Source Conflicting
- Subject
- Agent 15 from Hergé’s Quick and Flupke, tripped by a vaartkapoen in a manhole Source Source Checked
🔗 Related
- The Joke Is Built In (26 Photos) — Street Art Utopia
- Het Zinneke — another Tom Frantzen Artwork File
- Quick & Flupke — Wikipedia
- All Artwork Files
All sources & image credits
- be.brussels: Standbeelden en beeldhouwwerken (Brussels-Capital Region)
- belgiqueinsolite.com: Vaartkapoen
- bx1.be: Phases, perturbations, projet final : le réaménagement de la place Sainctelette a débuté (29 April 2024)
- visit.brussels: Vaartkapoen
- bruzz.be: Vaartkapoen tijdelijk weggehaald voor heraanleg Sainctelette (30 April 2024)
- vrt.be: Inwoners starten petitie om standbeeld van de Vaartkapoen in Molenbeek te houden (2 May 2024)
- bruzz.be: Meer dan 300 handtekeningen voor behoud Vaartkapoen in Molenbeek (10 May 2024)
- be.brussels: Chantier place Sainctelette (Brussels Mobility; works until 2027)
- tomfrantzen.com: Sculpturen (the sculptor’s list of works)
- en.wikipedia.org: Tom Frantzen
- commons.wikimedia.org: Vaartkapoen by Tom Frantzen (DSC 4791), photo by Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer), CC BY 4.0 (taken 29 May 2021)
- Image: Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, taken 29 May 2021, resized, as published on Street Art Utopia (The Joke Is Built In (26 Photos), 31 October 2026); a 16:9 share crop was made from it.
Last checked: 1 November 2026. How we verify art