of moving the Panorama to Ostend was to capture a share of British war-tourism, since most British coming to visit relatives' war graves arrived by steamer in Ostend before proceeding to the area of the Ypres Salient. The Panorama opened at Ostend in 1926. Financially the Panorama was great success, both for Bastien who received a tremendous fee for the painting, for the consortium of businessmen and banks which provided funds and capital and for the city of Ostend which provided real estate and a newly constructed building to house the Panorama. The initial investment was repaid many times over, from entrance fees and from (by modern standards) modest merchandising of postcards and prints. To give a relative idea of the finances involved, the actual cost of the painting materials (oil paint, linnen, brushes etc.) was estimated at around 40 000 BF, the cost to construct the new building at Ostend was 550 000 BF and Bastien's fee itself was set at 350 000 BF. Entrance fees for customers was 3 BF. While on exhibition in Brussels until 1925 it is estimated that more than 800 000 customers visited the Panorama, amongst them many of the crowned heads of Europe, presidents and foreign emperors alike, all to great acclaim by the news-media. In completing a work of such dimensions it is obvious that Bastien could not do all the painting himself. Several of his war-time friends and fellow artists from the 'Section Artistique' participated in this grand project. The initial sketching in of the broad outline in charcoal of the Panorama took about a week's time to complete, while the actual painting and varnishing took one year's time. The Panorama was set up in a circle, with paying spectators having a viewing place in the center. Careful attention was given to the lighting effects and the placement of objects in the foreground, in order to create a more believable optical illusion. Aside from his most famous 'Panorama de l'Yser', exhibited in Brussels, Bastien also created a smaller sized 'Panorama de la Bataille de la Meuse' in 1937 which showed an amalgam of scenes from the fighting in Namur and the Citadel of Dinant during August 1914. Part of this panorama which depicted the massacre of Belgian civilians in Dinant in August 1914, was deliberately destroyed by German authorities during the 1940–44 occupation. The 'Panorama de l'Yser' was heavily damaged in