He said he intended to turn all 13 of the films he’s made so far into diamonds and to present them at art institutions across the globe. Mr. von Trier chose to begin in Antwerp, he said, because of its centuries-long association with the diamond trade, and because the city continues to be one of the world’s leading producers of cut diamonds.

The goal of the project, said Anders Kreuger, senior curator at M HKA, is to transform one artistic medium into another: in this case, a film into a tiny sculpture made of precious stone. “He’s created an object of thought rather than an object of entertainment,” he said. “It makes me think about how you can reformulate reality from one form and language into another.”

Mr. Von Trier, 62, who is best known for “Breaking the Waves” (1996) and “Dancer in the Dark,” for which he won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2000, is frequently described as a provocateur of European cinema. His sprawling films such the two-part “Nymphomaniac” and his latest, “The House that Jack Built,” feature sadistic violence and graphic sex.

This diamonds project is a departure, and Mr. von Trier admitted he wasn’t entirely sure how it fit into his career.

“It has been in a way a sideline, but you never know where life will take you,” he said. “When it started I thought it would take about two weeks to cut the diamond and it would be interesting.” Instead, it took five years to cut the stone by hand.

The director said he couldn’t travel to Antwerp for the opening, because of ill health and a fear of flying (so severe that he has had to make most of his films in Denmark or Sweden).