Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (French) Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België (Dutch)
The entrance to the Oldmasters Museum in Brussels.
Established	September 1, 1801 (1801-09-01)
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Type	Art museum

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are a group of six amazing art museums in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Together, they are the most popular museum complex in the country.

The museums hold a huge collection of over 20,000 paintings, sculptures, and drawings. These artworks span from the 1400s to today. You can see famous works by old Flemish masters like Bruegel, Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck.

One of the museums, the Magritte Museum, has the world's largest collection of art by the famous surrealist artist René Magritte. Surrealism was an art style where artists painted dream-like and strange scenes.

History of the Museums
The Six Museums
How Many People Visit?
See also

History of the Museums

The first museum was started by Napoleon in 1801 and opened in 1803. It was called the Museum of Fine Arts of Brussels. It was located in a building called the "Old Court." The first collection was made up of art that had been taken by France and then returned.

After Belgium became an independent country, the museum was given to the Belgian government in 1841. A special group was created to choose important art by Belgian artists for the museum. This helped the collection grow.

For many years, the museum also hosted the Brussels Salon, an exhibition for living artists to show their work. As the collection got bigger, it needed more space. In 1887, the artworks by the "Old Masters" were moved to a new, grand building called the Palace of Fine Arts.

The Brussels Salon of 1830, an art show for living artists.
The "Old Court" where the museum started, pictured in 1846.
A map of the museum area in 1880.

Over the years, the museums received many artworks as gifts from private collectors. This helped the collection grow even more. In 2009, the Magritte Museum opened to show the works of René Magritte. Then, in 2013, the Fin-de-Siècle Museum opened to display art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Palace of Fine Arts, the museum's main building, in 1910.
Inside the Palace of Fine Arts in 1910.
Setting up the Magritte Museum in 2008.

The Six Museums

The Royal Museums are made up of six different museums. Four are in the main building area in downtown Brussels, and two smaller ones are in a different part of the city.

Oldmasters Museum

The Oldmasters Museum shows European art from the 1400s to the 1700s. It has a huge collection of Flemish art, including famous painters like Bruegel, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hieronymus Bosch.

One of the highlights is the "Rubens Room," which has more than 20 paintings by the artist. The museum also has the famous painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. This painting inspired a well-known poem.

A view of the main hall in the Oldmasters Museum.
The room dedicated to the artist Jacob Jordaens.
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Magritte Museum

This museum is all about the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. It has about 200 of his works, including paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

The collection includes some of his most famous pieces, like The Return and The Empire of Light. Many of the artworks were donated by Magritte's wife and his main collector. The museum opened in 2009.

The building that houses the Magritte Museum.
The entrance to the museum.
Inside one of the exhibition rooms.

Fin-de-Siècle Museum

"Fin-de-siècle" is French for "end of the century." This museum shows art from the late 1800s and early 1900s. During this time, Brussels was a major center for art, especially a style called Art Nouveau.

Here, you can see art by James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, and Leon Spilliaert. The museum opened in 2013.

The building that houses the Fin-de-Siècle Museum.
The entrance hall.
Divan Japonais, a famous poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893.
A beautiful bookcase in the Art Nouveau style by Louis Majorelle, 1902.

Wiertz Museum

This museum is located in the former home and studio of the artist Antoine Wiertz. It is in the Ixelles neighborhood of Brussels. Wiertz was a painter from the Romantic art movement, known for his huge and dramatic paintings.

The museum shows his monumental paintings, statues, and sketches. After Wiertz died, all the art in his studio was given to the Belgian government.

Entrance to the Wiertz Museum.
The Triumph of Light by Antoine Wiertz.

Meunier Museum

This museum is in the former home and workshop of the artist Constantin Meunier, also in Ixelles. Meunier was a painter and sculptor known for his realistic art showing the lives of workers.

The museum has 150 of his works. The house was bought by the government in 1936 and opened as a museum in 1939.

The Meunier Museum building.
The main hall of the museum.

How Many People Visit?

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts are the most visited art museums in Belgium. In 2015, they had a record number of 767,355 visitors.

The opening of the Magritte Museum in 2009 helped bring in many more people. That museum alone is very popular, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. This success has helped the museums earn more money on their own, reducing their need for government funding.

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium facts for kids

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