About 8km/5miles southwest of Ghent is the town of Sint-Martens-Latem, the patron saint of one of the most important schools of Belgian fine arts. In 1897 a group of artists settled in the town around the sculptor George Minne, among whom were Gustav van de Woestijne and Valerius de Saedeleer. Their work was stopped by the First World War;
during the 1920s a second group became known, including Albert Servaes, Constant Permeke, Gust de Smet and Frits van den Berghe, all of whom lived and worked in the town or nearby.
A large number of galleries still have collections of this period; the town church has many paintings by the above artists.