Matthias Schoenaerts spotted painting 'graffiti' in Ostend

Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts was spotted by a fan in Ostend at the weekend. Discreetly tucked away in a hooded jumper, the famous actor was in the city's lighthouse district completing work on a large mural in the framework of The Crystal Ship contemporary art festival, writes Het Laatste Nieuws.

Schoenaerts painted his work, Think outside the box, for the festival, which specialises in street art in public spaces. As a member of the Antwerp artist collective Buck, Schoenaerts is active as an artist under the nickname Zenith. News of the actor's visit to the Belgian coast was deliberately kept under wraps.

"The artwork is painted on the side of the house where my son's mother-in-law lives," says city councillor Karel Labens, who posted some of the photos he snapped of Schoenaerts on Facebook. "Schoenaerts was very friendly, and he gladly posed for a photo with my grandson, Luiz.”

“He couldn't come to Ostend earlier to finish the piece because he was working on a movie in the US,” says Labens in the newspaper.