Starting as a teenager, Pierre-Yves Renkin developed a passion for animal representations and became interested in taxidermy, a technique often considered wierd. Taken on at 19 by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, he learnt the profession and took part in building up major collections at the institution. Yet the museum world very quickly became too small for this inventive spirit and his boundless imagination. So he took over the workshops of two of the most famous taxidermists in Brussels, those of
de Turck and van Tieghem.

A new stage followed in 1988, when the most famous advertising agencies called on his talents by entrusting him with unusual and original campaigns. It created hard hitting images starring a toucan or a giraffe entering a car. His extraordinary mastery and vivid imagination make a marvellous combination.

Now widely recognised for his expertise as a naturalist and his technical skills, he went on to undertake various scientific and artistic activities. In 2002, he became the head of the naturalist part of the Al Wabra zoo in Qatar.

Yet he never turned his back on his first love, animal sculpture, taking part in a number of international competitions, winning prestigious prizes from them. Major institutions and individuals alike entrusted him with rebuilding lost species, like the Mauritian dodo exhibited at the Natural History Museum in Paris. One of these mythical birds was actually specially made for the Animalia exhibition.

These reconstitutions are emblematic of his expertise and the techniques used after long scientific research allowing him to bring a lost world back to life, like that of the great auk, another extinct species, three of which have been on show since June 2022 in Marseilles as part of the reconstitution of the prehistoric Cosquer cave.

Although a regular in galleries and exhibitions, Pierre-Yves Renkin's renown remained confined to the initiated, who have now decided to share their passion for this artist and his outstanding personality, with the public who visit Train World.