The Red Devils, Belgium’s men’s national soccer team, clinched a place in the World Cup quarter-finals after overwhelming the United States 4–1 in Seattle last night. Though attention may have been drawn to FIFA’s overturned suspension of US forward Folarin Balogun and the many twists of the match, the Belgian side’s pink-and-blue jerseys also echoed the surreal character of the moment.
Created by Adidas, Belgium’s away kit is covered in a layered circular pattern that recalls motifs René Magritte used in several works from the early part of his career. Its design and color scheme are drawn from Magritte’s “Grelots roses, ciels en lambeaux (Pink Bells, Tattered Skies)” (1930), a trompe l’oeil framed diptych in the Museo Reina Sofía collection.
In the left panel, Magritte painted a gentle, partly cloudy sky. The right side features spherical jingle bells in salmon pink, their shadows falling across an equally fleshy-toned background marked with patches of sky blue.
The jersey’s visual references to Belgium’s celebrated Surrealist painter offer a fitting backdrop to the team’s strong performance. In both appearance and result, the match carried the kind of unexpected, dreamlike energy often associated with Magritte’s work.
