Hoet was born in Geel, Antwerp province, the son of a psychiatrist and fervent art collector, who used to take him on visits to artists like Constant Permeke in their workshops. Hoet himself had ambitions to be an artist, trying his hand at painting and drawing a number of comic strips, only one of which was ever published, long after he had widely come to be known as kunstpaus, or Pope of Art.

He spent some time as a drawing teacher, but it was as a curator that Hoet was to make his mark. In 1975 he went to work at the Museum of Modern Art in Ghent, which would later be transformed into the City Museum for Contemporary Art (SMAK).

“Hoet was the first to succeed in getting the broader public to talk about modern art,” said Flemish culture minister Joke Schauvliege, handing over the prize. He did so with a mixture of modest means and boundless ambition. The 1986 exhibition Chambres d'amis (Guest Rooms) is considered one of the most innovative and mould-breaking Belgium has ever seen: works of art were displayed in 50 different homes of ordinary people in Ghent. Hoet only had €150,000 to spend, but it made his name and that of the museum internationally renowned.

He also, according to former prizewinner Eric Antonis, “fought against prejudice and misunderstanding,” with an abiding interest in outsider art. He was ubiquitous in the media, often offering his typically prickly opinion on everything to do with art. Since his retirement from the SMAK he has organised exhibitions from Germany to Japan, and even set up another new museum in the German town of Herford.

“Actually, you should have won this prize 20 years ago,” the artist Jan Fabre told Hoet when the award was announced in Genk last week, “but never mind. It takes a lifetime to become a young curator.” Hoet said he was “delighted” to receive it and especially welcomed the timing. “I'm above all happy that it didn’t happen posthumously.”