Even more so than in previous years, this 70th edition of BRAFA will be a true celebration of the arts! The Fair has changed venue several times since its foundation in 1956: the Salle Arlequin in the Galeries Louise in Brussels for 11 years, the Palais des Beaux-Arts for 35 years, Tour & Taxis for 20 years and Brussels Expo for the past 4 years. From a national event with 50 Belgian participants, BRAFA has blossomed into an international fair with over 130 exhibitors from 16 countries.
Over the course of this extraordinary adventure, BRAFA has become what it is today: one of the most prestigious art fairs in the world. More than ever, BRAFA 2025 will be a unique meeting place for exhibitors, collectors, museums, foundations, art dealers and art lovers.
BRAFA has always strived for excellence, cultivating a reputation for high-profile galleries, eclecticism and conviviality – a reputation we are determined to uphold! Each year, visitors to the Fair are treated to a magnificent journey through time from classical antiquity to contemporary art and design and this array of specialities creates a fantastic dynamic.
Our selection of exhibitors guarantees art lovers the best the art market has to offer. At BRAFA, we place great value on expert appraisals. The quality and authenticity of the objects on display are examined before each edition by a committee of independent international experts.
For this special edition, we have invited the internationally renowned Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who is famous for her baroque, militant and humorous sculptures. Her colourful, monumental installations will give the Fair an even more festive character, making BRAFA a real visual spectacle.
Our specialist lectures, the BRAFA Art Talks, organised on the King Baudouin Foundation stand and our guided tours, the BRAFA Art Tours, will once again be offered to enthusiast art lovers – a great opportunity to further your knowledge of art. This year will also mark the launch of a new collaboration with the leading Belgian KIK-IRPA, the Royal Institute for the Cultural Heritage. The KIK-IRPA, which is devoted to the study, conservation and restoration of works of art, will be showcasing the latest in cutting-edge research techniques, as well as organising practical workshops for visitors.
In parallel to BRAFA, the city of Brussels is a treasure trove of cultural hotspots, offering a host of unexpected artistic and musical events, as well as excellent food and shopping experiences. This BRAFA City Guide provides a joyous roadmap through Brussels and other cultural cities in Belgium.
We look forward to welcoming you to this festive edition of BRAFA.
Klaas Muller, Chairman of BRAFA
JOANA VASCONCELOS
Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist, born in 1971. Over the course of her 30-year career, she has made use of a wide variety of media. Although she has a preference for textiles, Joana Vasconcelos also works with cement, metal, ceramics, glass and found objects. She is renowned for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations. Her ambition is to decontextualise everyday objects and revisit the concept of craft in the twenty-first century. With humor and irony, she questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity.
Her international reputation was consolidated in 2005, at the first Venice Biennale curated by women, where she presented her piece The Bride, a classically shaped chandelier whose crystal pendants had been replaced by approximately 14,000 tampons.
Joana Vasconcelos was the youngest artist and the first woman to exhibit at the Château de Versailles in 2012. In 2018, she became the first Portuguese artist to have a solo show at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 2023, she had the honour of exhibiting at the Uffizi Galleries and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, alongside great masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Caravaggio.
Among her works, the most impressive are undoubtedly the Valkyries, sculptures inspired by the female figures from Norse mythology who flew over the battlefields, bringing the bravest warriors back to life to join the deities in Valhalla. Made from textiles, they give full expression to the artist’s creativity, involving a variety of fabrics, hooks and trimmings.
The result is a surprising combination of volumes, textures and colours. Made up of a central body, a head, a tail and several arms, many of the Valkyries combine traditional craftsmanship with more technological methods, such as the insertion of light to simulate vibration and breathing, which gives movement to the work.
Joana Vasconcelos will be bringing a pop, colourful and festive touch to the 70th edition of BRAFA: “For this historic edition, I am proposing the installation of works that I have been developing since last year in collaboration with Dior. This series will feature two monumental sculptures, the placement of which I believe will serve as an aesthetic and conceptual focal point at the fair. These works are intended to not only celebrate the fair’s rich heritage but also to engage in a dialogue with the contemporary moment, creating an atmosphere that resonates with the depth and vision that BRAFA embodies. Through this installation, my hope is to contribute to the creation of a distinctive and memorable experience, befitting the significance of BRAFA’s 70th anniversary.”
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE (KIK-IRPA)
Celebrating Art and Science at BRAFA 2025
The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), Belgium’s leading centre for the study and conservation of the country’s artistic and cultural heritage, is excited to share its expertise and passion for art, history, and science at BRAFA.
Since its founding in 1948, KIK-IRPA has been devoted to expert research and the meticulous treatment of a wide range of heritage objects, including paintings, wooden and stone sculptures, tapestries, precious metals, glass, and elements of the country’s architectural heritage. With its team of restorers, chemists, scientists, photographers and art historians, the Institute carefully analyses artworks to determine the most appropriate conservation methods and the degree of intervention required, in the greatest respect of their historical authenticity.
Scientific research is at the heart of KIK-IRPA’s work. In its state-of-the-art laboratories, advanced tools such as 3D microscopy, macro-XRF, and radiocarbon dating provide crucial insights into the materials and techniques used by artists and craftsmen, helping to ensure the proper preservation of cultural treasures for future generations.
At BRAFA, the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (booth n°136) will be will be showcasing the many facets of its work, from art conservation and restoration to heritage management and scientific analysis. Visitors are invited to discover how specialists analyse and document works of art, providing fascinating insights into their history and craftsmanship.
Engaging workshops throughout the Fair daily at 2pm and 5pm will offer attendees hands-on opportunities to explore art and heritage from a new perspective. Participants will learn how to approach artworks with a critical eye, understand the materials used by artists, and learn how to care for valuable objects and artworks at home. Experts will also share fascinating discoveries from their research, illustrating how scientific methods and modern technology are unlocking new dimensions for the understanding of historical works of art. Participation in the workshops is by reservation only on the BRAFA website.
The presence of KIK-IRPA at BRAFA 2025 will offer an extraordinary glimpse into the world of heritage conservation and restoration, inviting art lovers and heritage enthusiasts to a first-hand experience of the intricate work that ensures the survival of our shared cultural legacy. The KIK-IRPA looks forward to welcoming visitors to this celebration of cultural excellence.
For more information on KIK-IRPA: www.kikirpa.be
HISTORY OF BRAFA
Since 1956, the year of its creation, BRAFA’s constant evolution has been informed by its taste for excellence. Over the years, it has grown in size and international scope and changed venue several times without losing any of its charm, with one simple goal: to offer the highestquality art fair to satisfy the desires of collectors in search of hidden gems.
INITIAL DEVELOPMENTS
In 1995, Christian De Bruyn, the Chairman at the time, suggested opening the Fair up to foreign antique dealers, representing a first step forward. Until then, the event had been restricted to Belgian antique dealers, members of the Chambre Royale des Antiquaires de Belgique. In 2004, the Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique moved to Tour & Taxis. This move was a real gamble since the site was still in its development stage. The space provided by this new venue quickly enabled the Fair to expand. From a national Fair with fifty participants, it grew over time to become an international Fair with more than one hundred thirty exhibitors.
BIRTH OF A FUTURE SUCCESS STORY
The first Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique was held in 1956 at the Salle Arlequin in the Galeries Louise in Brussels. The Antiques Fair was organised at the request of Charles Van Hove, the Chairman of the Chambre des Antiquaires de Belgique at the time. This event can be seen as a precursor, since only two fairs had enjoyed comparable renown beforehand: the Grosvenor House Fair in London and the Prinsenhof Fair in Delft. In 1968, in light of the fair’s success and the growing number of participants, the organisers decided to move the event to the Palais des BeauxArts in Brussels.
EYES ON THE HORIZON
In the 1990s, the specialities on show at the fair also began to evolve. Tribal art, contemporary art and comic strips began to be exhibited on certain stands. In 2009, the name 'Antiques Fair of Belgium' no longer corresponded to the internationalisation and diversity of the fields on offer, which was renamed BRAFA: the Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair. On September 30th, 2009, the fair was placed under the High Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Paola of Belgium. Following a complete visual remodelling of the event in 2014, the fair came to be known as BRAFA, or Brussels Art Fair.
PRESTIGIOUS GUESTS
THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES AT BRUSSELS EXPO
In 2022, following the development of new projects on the Tour & Taxis site, BRAFA moved to a new venue for the fourth time. It is now held at Brussels Expo on the Heysel plateau, to the north of the Belgian capital. The Brussels Expo exhibition venue was specifically designed to host a variety of trade fairs and international events. Emblematic of a prestigious past, the infrastructure of its exhibition halls is a legacy of the Brussels World’s Fairs of 1935 and 1958, the flagship monument of which is undoubtedly the Atomium, the symbol of the 1958 Fair.
From the outset, a host of VIPs have been invited to inaugurate the Fair. These have included the Belgian Royal family, Princess Hélène of France, the Grand-Ducal family of Luxembourg, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Baron Albert Frère, Karl Lagerfeld, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Claude Brialy, and many others. Since 2008, BRAFA has also welcomed prestigious guests of honour, ranging from major Belgian cultural institutions such as the Opéra de la Monnaie in 2013 and the AfricaMuseum in 2014, to internationally renowned artists such as Julio Le Parc in 2017, Christo in 2018, Gilbert & George in 2019 and Joana Vasconcelos in 2025.
1966 - Inauguration of the Antiques Fair of Belgium by Her Royal Highness Queen Fabiola of Belgium
1988 - Inauguration of the Antiques Fair of Belgium by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld
TODAY, BRAFA IS…
• one of the top 5 art and antiques fairs
• the oldest art fair in Europe, now celebrating its 70th exhibition…
• a first-class gathering of 130 exhibitors from 16 countries, covering 20 specialities from archaeology to design and contemporary art
• an exceptional showcase of 10,000 to 15,000 pieces for sale in a warm and elegant setting
• a guarantee of quality, since the authenticity and condition of each artwork on display will have been appraised by 80 experts from around the world over a two-day period before the opening
• an unparalleled meeting place bringing together more than 67,000 collectors, museum conservators, art market professionals, designers, interior decorators and art lovers from around the world
• a human-scale fair (despite its 21,200 m² of exhibition space), enabling visitors to pick out their favourite artworks in the space of a few hours...
• one of the most inspiring art fairs and quite simply the first unmissable event on the artistic calendar!
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
VENUE
Brussels Expo - Halls 3 & 4 (entrance)
Place de Belgique - Belgiëplein 1 BE-1020 Brussels
DATES AND OPENING HOURS
Exclusive Saturday 25 January 2025, from 11 am to 7 pm
Sunday 26 January to Sunday 2 February 2025, from 11 am to 7 pm
except on Monday 27 January 2025 (by invitation only)
Late opening on Thursday 30 January 2025 until 10 pm
TICKETS
Exclusive Saturday
Day ticket
16-26 years old
< 16 years old free
Buy online at www.brafa.art or on site (cashless payment only)
Catalogue*
Combination tickets*
1 entry + 1 catalogue
2 entries + 1 catalogue
*Only on sale at the event (cashless payment only)
EXHIBITORS
130 galleries from 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
SPECIALITIES
Classical antiquities, Old Masters, modern and contemporary paintings, silverware, antique jewellery, furniture, sculpture and works of art from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, design objects & furniture, curiosities, glass and ceramics, tribal art, Asian art, Pre-Columbian art, antique frames, icons, drawings and engravings, antique and modern books, original comic art, autographed letters and manuscripts, photography, carpets and textiles, tapestries, naturalia…
BRAFA ART TALKS
Captivating talks for curious minds, open access without reservation with an entrance ticket. Daily at 4 pm on the stand of the King Baudouin Foundation n°135.
Belgian and international curators, art experts and journalists will be delivering exciting lectures on a variety of topics. Full programme available at: www.brafa.art/en/art-talks
Discover uplifting highlights of the Fair and gain a deeper understanding of these pieces. Daily at 3 pm, free public tours in English, French and Dutch by registration only on www.brafa.art/en/tickets.
Private tours in English, French, Dutch, German and other languages on request. For prices and bookings, please contact Patricia Simonart, p.simonart@brafa.be, t. +32 (0)2 513 48 31
KIK-IRPA: SPECIAL EXHIBITION & WORKSHOPS
Free engaging workshops offering hands-on opportunities to explore art and heritage. Daily at 2 pm and 5 pm (booth n°136) by registration only at: www.brafa.art/en/guided-tours-and-art-tours.
Participants will learn how to approach artworks with a critical eye, understand the materials used by artists, and learn how to care for valuable objects and artworks at home. Experts will also share fascinating discoveries from their research, illustrating how scientific methods and modern technology are unlocking new dimensions for the understanding of historical works of art.
SERVICES
Concierge, restaurants, champagne bars, cloakroom (3 €), parking (12 €) Special parking & access for disabled persons (Parking M & T).
Loading stations for electric cars: Atomium, Boulevard du Centenaire 617 / Parking T, E, C
SAFETY REGULATIONS
- Animals, large bags, backpacks, suitcases and umbrellas are not allowed at the fair
- Please do not bring art or antiques for valuation
- No photography or filming of the artworks is allowed without permission from the exhibiting gallery
- No use of tripods without permission
- Security personnel reserve the right to search all visitors and their belongings at the entrance to the fair
CONCIERGE SERVICE
BRAFA’s aim is to make your visit a truly unforgettable experience! For all inquiries about BRAFA before the opening of the Fair, or about Brussels’ museums, exhibitions or concerts, restaurants, hotels, car rental, plane tickets, transfers to the airport or anything else, please contact Patricia Simonart: p.simonart@brafa.be, t. +32 (0)2 513 48 31. During the Fair, the Concierge of the Hotel Le Plaza Brussels, a member of the Belgian Royal Warrant Holders, will be delighted to assist you with any enquiries. The Concierge will be located at the entrance hall of the Fair.
ORGANISATION
Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique asbl / Antiekbeurs van België vzw t. +32 (0)2 513 48 31 - info@brafa.be - www.brafa.art
Follow us on
HOW TO GET TO BRAFA
BY AIRPLANE
Brussels Expo is located 20 minutes from Brussels International Airport. Book tickets on www.brusselsairlines.com
From the airport, take a taxi to Brussels Expo or the Trambus-De Lijn n° 820 (direction UZ Brussel) and get off at the Brussel Expo stop on the Chaussée Romaine/Romeinsesteenweg. To get from there to BRAFA, take the footbridge from Parking C located next to the bus stop or the free shuttle service on the Parking C that will take you to the entrance Hall 4.
BY TRAIN
BELGIAN RAIL - SNCB/NMBS
For information about transport in Belgium and abroad: www.belgianrail.be
EUROSTAR
Direct route to Brussels: from Paris (1h22), from London (2h), from Amsterdam (1h50), from Cologne (1h50). Train times and tickets on www.eurostar.com Arrival at Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid station. To reach Brussels Expo, take a taxi or the metro, line 6 (direction Roi Baudouin). Get off at Heysel station, which is located almost opposite the entrance to Hall 4. This journey takes approximately 15 minutes.
THE CENTRE FOR ENGRAVINGS AND PRINTS (CGII) Rue des Amours 10 / 7100 La Louvière www.centredelagravure.be
KERAMIS - CERAMICS CENTRE
Place des Fours-Bouteilles 1 7100 La Louvière www.keramis.be
LI EGE
LA BOVERIE
Parc de la Boverie / 4020 Liege www.laboverie.com
LE GRAND CURTIUS
Quai de Maastricht 13 / 4000 Liege www.grandcurtiusliege.be
LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE
MUSÉE L – MUSÉE UNIVERSITAIRE
DE LOUVAIN
Place des Sciences 3 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve www.museel.be
HERGÉ MUSEUM
Rue du Labrador 26 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve www.museeherge.com
MARIEMONT
ROYAL MUSEUM OF MARIEMONT
Chaussée de Mariemont 100 7140 Morlanwelz www.musee-mariemont.be
MECHELEN
MUSEUM HOF VAN BUSLEYDEN
Frederik de Merodestraat 65 2800 Mechelen www.hofvanbusleyden.be
MONS
TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
BRUSSELS
ART & HISTORY MUSEUM
Parc du Cinquantenaire 10 1000 Brussels www.artandhistory.museum
Masterpieces of the 18th century. A Tale of Power and Beauty.
CAP - FINE ARTS MUSEUM MONS
Rue Neuve 8 / 7000 Mons www.cap.mons.be
SENEFFE
DOMAINE DU CHÂTEAU DE SENEFFE
Silver Museum of the Fédération
Wallonie-Bruxelles
Rue Lucien Plasman 7-9 / 7180 Seneffe www.chateaudeseneffe.be
The Art & History Museum exhibition, held in recently renovated rooms, presents a selection of 18th-century art objects, focusing on seven areas that underwent radical transformation in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment: nature, exoticism, the state, religion, philosophy, science and technology. The aim of this new presentation is to go beyond the usual historical and stylistic approach and to look at the ways of thinking and living in the Low Countries under the Habsburgs of Austria and in the Principality of Liege. As well as unveiling recent acquisitions, the revamped scenography sheds new light on some of the best-known masterpieces in the collections, highlighting sometimes lesser-known works whose artistic quality and variety are nevertheless a tribute to the artists of our regions in the fields of goldsmithing and silversmithing, sculpture, ceramics, glassmaking, lacemaking and tapestry.
America collection
The Art & History Museum’s collection of Central and South American civilisations is one of the most important and comprehensive in Europe, and even worldwide. Olmecs, Mayas, Aztecs, Incas and many other populations are well-represented. Nine rooms present a revitalised display of new objects and scientific content on various themes such as rituals and sacrifices, ball games, Mayan writing, the Aztec calendar and Moche vases. The updated display also offers new background material on
lesser-known cultures, such as those from Costa Rica, Panama, the Caribbean, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, amongst others. After a two-year absence for restoration, the figurine that served as model for the Tintin album ‘The Broken Ear’ is back, just like the mummy from which Hergé drew inspiration for his character Rascar Capac in the album ‘The Seven Crystal Balls’. Some of the new objects on display come from the recent bequest to the museum by the Dutch couple Heggen-Van der Giessen.
ATOMIUM
Place de l’Atomium 1 / 1020 Brussels www.atomium.be
Centrale and Look Up 01 Jan 2024 > 31 Dec 2025
Temporary closure 13 Jan > 26 Jan 2025 (Re)discover the Atomium, a Belgian icon rooted in the present and looking to the future. Built for the 1958 World’s Fair, the Atomium is more than a monument: it’s a journey in its own right, a crossroads between art, science and history. Since 2013, the Atomium, as cultural venue, has been devoting its programming of exhibitions, installations and performances to
digital creations. It regularly gives carte blanche to artists who create immersive and original universes in the exhibition space. These projects made of sound and light, such as Centrale and Look Up, exploit the magic of the space and accentuate the heritage richness of the building. The Atomium ticket automatically includes entry to the Design Museum Brussels, 150m away.
BELFIUS ART GALLERY
Belfius Tower, Place Charles Rogier 11 / 1210 Brussels
Mandatory registration: www.belfius.com/art
ART POPS
18 Oct 2024 > 20 Jun 2025
Step into Art Pops, an immersive art experience brought to visitors by the Belfius Art Collection, in which their senses become the brushstrokes of creativity. This unique exhibition invites visitors to explore art beyond sight, engaging the senses of touch, sound, and even smell in order to awaken a deeper connection with each piece. It’s a great way to dive into vibrant installations that pop with colour and vibrate with energy, and to feel the textures of artistic expression. Art Pops is more than an exhibition, it’s a sensory journey that redefines how we perceive and interact with art.
BOGHOSSIAN FOUNDATION -
VILLA EMPAIN
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 67 1050 Brussels www.villaempain.com
Alechinsky, pinceau voyageur 26 Sep 2024 > 16 Mar 2025
Echoes of Art Deco
15 Nov 2024 > 25 May 2025
For the first time, the Boghossian Foundation is presenting a solo exhibition devoted to a major 20th-century European artist, Pierre Alechinsky, in the unique setting of the Villa Empain. The exhibition, curated by Catherine de Braekeleer, brings together an exceptional collection of a hundred works and numerous archival documents, gathered over the past seventy years. Alechinsky, pinceau voyageur is an ode to travel, exploring the artist’s fascination with artistic practices and traditions in Japan and China. An ode to freedom, showcasing the artist’s experimentation with different techniques and mediums since 1947. An ode to friendship, with works created in collaboration with artists like Jiří Kolář, Hans Spinner, or accompanying the works of authors such as Salah Stétié, Amos Kenan, and Joyce Mansour. An ode to love, since the exhibition centres around the image of the previous unseen painting titled Comme elle partait, created in 2023 as a tribute to Micky (19282023), whom he married in 1949.
In the context of the centenary commemoration of Art Deco in 2025, the Boghossian Foundation is presenting a thematic exhibition on this key movement in Brussels. The term Art Deco refers to the Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in Paris in 1925, which provided a unique opportunity for architects and the public to immerse themselves in this fresh, innovative spirit. Echoes of Art Deco invites visitors to explore the iconic architecture of the Villa Empain, a paragon of Art Deco with an eventful past. Set against the lively musical backdrop of the era, the exhibition offers an immersive experience in the lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties. The Art Deco movement encompassed both architecture and the decorative arts. Furniture takes centre stage in a scenography that recreates the intimate atmosphere of a private residence. Drawings, ceramics, woodwork and ironwork transport visitors to a time oriented towards modernity, technical progress, and the forthcoming society of leisure. Stained glass, an exemplary marker of stylistic evolution, is showcased by an exceptional collection of 25 original pieces, alongside the complete preparatory drawings for Anto Carte’s La Gioconda, which was exhibited at the 1925 International Exhibition in Paris.
BOZAR - CENTRE FOR FINE ARTS
Rue Ravenstein 23 / 1000 Brussels www.bozar.be
Monira Al Qadiri.
The Archaeology of Beasts
14 Nov 2024 > 09 Mar 2025
Monira Al Qadiri (Senegal, 1983) is an international artist whose practice explores topics as diverse as ancient history and the possibilities of new technologies, always from a critical yet playful point of view. Bozar is hosting her first solo exhibition in Belgium, titled
The Archaeology of Beasts. Consisting of new digital creations commissioned for this occasion, the exhibition represents a new visual turn for Al Qadiri, inspired by the Gods and Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Interweaving ancient myths and recent facts connected to climate change, Al Qadiri’s works oscillate between humour and beauty, often charged with an underlying violence. For this exhibition, she is asking visitors to reflect on who qualifies as a Human and who as a Beast.
CENTRALE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Place Sainte-Catherine 44 1000 Brussels www.centrale.brussels
hosting / 10 Oct 2024 > 09 Feb 2025 hosting welcomes and celebrates the artistic diversity of the Brussels scene, opening up to the city, its periphery, its artists and its audiences. The exhibition is presented as a large-scale cabinet of curiosities, occupying all of Centrale’s spaces. It is based on an open call to Brussels-based artists of all generations and disciplines in the visual arts. The exhibition examines the notions of hospitality, territory, solidarity and emergence in the current art ecosystem. The works have been selected and curated by an artistic committee including guest artists Manon de Boer, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Juan Pablo Plazas and Richard Venlet, and Tania Nasielski, the artistic director at Centrale.
BOZAR
Monira
Boghossian
CLOUD SEVEN
Quai du Commerce 7 / 1000 Brussels
www.cloudseven.be/exhibitions
A Public Affair
12 Sep 2024 > 28 Mar 2025
The exhibition explores the boundaries between the private and public spheres, highlighting conflicts that may emerge when personal issues become collective.
A selection of works from Frédéric de Goldschmidt’s collection by Aline Bouvy, Romuald Hazoumè, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jacqueline Mesmaeker, Sophie Nys, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Barthélémy Toguo, Nico Williams and many other established and upcoming artists, curated by Bayo Hassan Bello.
DESIGN MUSEUM BRUSSELS
Place de Belgique 1 / 1020 Brussels www.designmuseum.brussels
Here
We Are! Women in Design, 1900-Today
16 Oct 2024 > 09 Mar 2025
Temporary closure 13 jan > 26 jan 2025
From the pioneers of the Bauhaus to the interior designers of space capsules, together with more classic productions, women have shaped the field of design, and yet they are often overlooked. The Here We Are! Women in Design, 1900Today exhibition pays tribute to women designers past and present through a large collection of furniture, ceramics, glass, textiles, fashion and graphic design. Produced by the Vitra Design Museum, this exhibition is coming to the Design Museum Brussels with the addition of a section devoted to this issue in the history of design in Belgium.
Untold Stories - Women Designers in Belgium, 1880-1980
16 Oct 2024 > 13 Apr 2025
This exhibition brings the works of more than 50 women designers and makers, active in Belgium between 1880 and 1980, together for the first time. Based on extensive research, objects from a wide range of disciplines and sourced from several museums and private collections are on display, many of which have never been shown to the public before.
FONDATION CAB BRUSSELS
Rue Borrens 34-36 / 1050 Brussels www.fondationcab.com
Kasper Bosmans
15 Jan 2025 > 15 Feb 2025
Van den Weghe, a company specialised in noble materials headed by the entrepreneur and art collector Tanguy Van Quickenborne, has invited the Belgian artist Kasper Bosmans (b. 1990) to take up a residency at his company. Van den Weghe offers the artist the opportunity to explore the craft and tackle the most inspiring materials. As part of this project, Kasper Bosman is presenting marble works, produced during his year-long residency, at the CAB Foundation. Kasper Bosmans is a shrewd observer of the ways in which images can teeter on the brink of nature and fiction, or art and craft. With an intuitive anthropological approach, he looks towards the remnants of local traditions and mythological iconography in contemporary life.
FONDATION
WALTER & NICOLE LEBLANC
Chaussée de Gand 1118 / 1082 Brussels www.walterleblanc.org
Schémas by Hana Miletić
02 Oct 2024 > 07 Feb 2025
With the aim of cultivating a platform for experimentation, research and exchange between Walter Leblanc’s legacy and contemporary art and cultural practitioners, artists are invited to meticulously explore the archive of the Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation. The third exhibition presents an engaging dialogue between the works of Leblanc, the archiving work of his life partner Nicole, and the acclaimed artist Hana Miletić (Zagreb, 1982), who has conceived a site-specific installation especially for this occasion. Miletić’s work, which explores themes of representation and social reproduction through the interaction of photography and weaving, brings a fresh perspective to the ongoing conversation.
HORTA MUSEUM
Rue Américaine 27 / 1060 Brussels www.hortamuseum.be
Smooth as velvet
13 Sep 2024 > 30 May 2025
The Horta Museum has invited five artists to dress the walls of the house. Following the successful ‘Pushing Back the Walls’ exhibition held in 2022, it is now velvet’s turn to take centre stage as it decorates the walls of this famous home. Louisa Carmona, Elise Peroi, Marc Van Hoe and Flore and Pauline Fockedey were all given full creative freedom for this project.
MAISON HANNON
Avenue de la Jonction 1 / 1060 Brussels www.maisonhannon.be
Belgian Art Nouveau. Van de Velde, Serrurier-Bovy, Hankar & Co
01 Sep 2023 > 02 Feb 2025
In the Saint-Gilles district of Brussels, a sleeping beauty is awakening. For its first exhibition since its opening, the Maison Hannon is presenting Belgian
Art Nouveau in all its diversity, through a wide range of art pieces from public and private collections, many of which have never been seen before. Art Nouveau. A style? More like a state of mind, and an insatiable faith in modernity. In 1900, at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, Brussels was the field of experimentation for a subversive style. Whilst Victor Horta addressed himself to a wealthy clientele, Paul Hankar, Henry van de Velde and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy worked together to invent a modern way of life that was simpler, with the aim of popularising it. Through this approach, they sought to establish the foundations of a first modernity.
ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE
ARTS OF BELGIUM
Rue de la Régence 3 / 1000 Brussels www.fine-arts-museum.be
Drafts. From Rubens to Khnopff 11 Oct 2024 > 16 Feb 2025
How is a work of art created? This is the question that the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are seeking to answer with an exhibition devoted to sketching. A tour of one hundred works takes visitors into the intimacy of the creative process, inviting them to push open the doors of the studio in an attempt to grasp the very soul of the work, the first idea laid down on a blank sheet of paper, a plank of wood or a piece of cardboard. This immersion offers a new, behind-the-scenes perspective on the creations of iconic artists, from
Rogier van der Weyden to James Ensor, by way of Rembrandt, Rubens and Magritte. Based around the exceptional collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, this unique exhibition is the result of a major restoration campaign carried out by the museum’s teams over a period of almost two years.
Emily Mae Smith X René Magritte 11 Oct 2024 > 02 Mar 2025 Emily Mae Smith (USA, 1979), a young American painter, has been invited by the Magritte Museum to create a unique dialogue with his fascinating universe. Most of Emily Mae Smith’s works feature an anthropomorphic broomstick figure, inspired by Disney’s Fantasia (1940). This figure becomes the artist’s avatar, simultaneously referring to the painter’s brush, the working tool of housemaids, and the phallus, giving her paintings a sexual dimension. Emily Mae Smith stages this broom-brush figure in various contexts: a seventeenth-century interior, a rocky exterior, a cave, etc. She accompanies it with props and objects borrowed from Symbolism (skull, flowers, still life…) and Surrealism. She readily includes direct references to art history, and to Magritte’s work: here and there, one recognises an apple, a burnt-out candle, rocks... New works made exclusively for the exhibition are displayed alongside loans from private and public collections.
TRAIN WORLD
Place Princesse Elisabeth 5
1030 Brussels www.trainworld.be
Draw me a train
19 Sep 2024 > 11 May 2025
This exhibition showcases the work of some of the greatest artists whose work, in their time, captured the beauty of trains: Victor Horta, Henry van de Velde, Paul Delvaux, Franquin, Santiago Calatrava, François Schuiten and many others.
Original drawings by Victor Horta relating to his work on the BrusselsCentral station will be displayed to the public for the first time. Cars dating from the 1930s, designed by Henry van de Velde, have also been restored specially for the occasion and will be the subject of an exclusive presentation.
VANHAERENTS ART COLLECTION
Rue Anneessens 29 / 1000 Brussels www.vanhaerentsartcollection.com
Open once a month: Sat 01 Feb 2025 Mandatory registration
Viewing Depot EXH#03
Year of the Dragon
EXH#03 is the third major presentation highlighting recent acquisitions and seminal works from the collection, all in the unique setting of a viewing depot. Drawing inspiration from the Chinese calendar and astrology, the thematic core of this exhibition is the zodiac sign of the dragon, symbolising creativity, curiosity, confidence and generosity. Associative in nature, EXH#03 brings together large-scale works that combine aesthetic innovation and emotional
intensity. One of the focal points in the exhibition, spanning the full three floors of the Vanhaerents Art Collection, is Ai Weiwei’s haunting installation Life Vest Snake, 2019, which seamlessly intertwines traditional Eastern iconography with poignant reflections on the contemporary refugee crisis.
WIELS - CONTEMPORARY
ART CENTRE
Avenue Van Volxem 354 / 1190 Brussels www.wiels.org
Willem Oorebeek. Obstakles 01 Feb 2025 > 27 Apr 2025
WIELS presents Obstakles, a major retrospective exhibition of Willem Oorebeek (Netherlands, 1953), an artist of Dutch origin who has been living and working in Brussels for the past thirty years. The exhibition encompasses approximately forty sets of work ranging from the 1990s to new productions. Spread across two floors, the exhibition highlights Oorebeek’s in-depth exploration of authorship and aura through mass-produced images and the reproduction of techniques of appropriation, calling the claim of the unique experience of painting into question. Through elaborate processes of repetition and superimposition, his work simultaneously thematises mediatic forms of representation and the viewer’s possibilities of perception. In an age of visual information overload and the ubiquitous spectacle, Oorebeek’s work delves sensitively into the image’s dynamics of attracting attention, without compromising its mystery.
Paulo Nazareth
01 Feb 2025 > 27 Apr 2025
Paolo Nazareth (Brazil, 1977) is a travelling artist who creates as he walks. His work, which includes performances, videos, photographs and sculptures, is akin to a protean travel diary. Across the Americas and Africa, he follows migration routes on foot or by bus, documenting social tensions and exhuming parts of the collective memory. He roams the
world like a nomad with the aim of producing traces that might result in a work of art. In this exhibition, Nazareth’s interdisciplinary, participatory work connects his life to his artistic output.
WITTOCKIANA - MUSEUM OF BOOK ARTS AND BOOKBINDING
Rue du Bemel 23 / 1150 Brussels www.wittockiana.org
L’Atelier du Faux 12 Oct 2024 > 02 Feb 2025
Rare and desirable goods have always stimulated the ingenuity of counterfeiters. Counterfeit coins have been in circulation for as long as money has existed, and the same applies to religious relics, works of art and luxury items. When it comes to printed matter, however, forgery is not always the opposite of truth. As Umberto Eco points out, it is extremely difficult to give a satisfactory definition to such terms as ‘fake’, ‘forgery’, ‘pseudo’, ‘falsification’, ‘facsimile’, ‘counterfeiting’, ‘apocryphal’, ‘similar’, ‘copy’. And the real headache for theorist is to decide what is meant by an ‘authentic object’. (Umberto Eco, The Limits of Interpretation). This exhibition is an attempt to show the nuances and reflections of forgery in the field of books.
ANTWERP
DIVA, THE MUSEUM FOR DIAMONDS, JEWELLERY, AND SILVER Suikerrui 17-19 / 2000 Antwerp www.divaantwerp.be
Pinned! Contemporary Antwerp
Jewellery / 25 Oct 2024 > 21 Apr 2025
This exhibition presents the extraordinary collection by Antwerp collector Dirk Schrijvers, consisting of 200 jewels by more than 60 designers. With this unique exhibition, the DIVA museum offers an insight into jewellery made in Antwerp during the past 25 years. It is a celebration of craftsmanship and innovation. From bold statement pieces to sophisticated subtle touches and technological developments, each piece of jewellery tells its own story.
FOMU - FOTOMUSEUM
Waalsekaai 47 / 2000 Antwerp www.fotomuseum.be
Cindy Sherman. Anti-Fashion
28 Sep 2024 > 02 Feb 2025
FOMU presents Belgium’s first major solo of the American artist Cindy Sherman (USA, 1954). Featuring more than 100 works from the 1970s to the present, the exhibition offers an exciting overview of this leading contemporary artist’s work. The exhibition Anti-Fashion dives deeper into Sherman’s fascination for fashion and the nexus between her independent work and commissions in the fashion industry. Since the 1980s she has worked regularly with leading fashion houses including Comme des Garçons, John Galliano and Balenciaga and
fashion magazines such as Vogue, Interview and Harper’s Bazaar. With no interest in glamorous fashion shoots, she creates provocative photos featuring figures that could hardly be called beautiful, thus calling established ideals of beauty into question.
KMSKA - ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ANTWERP
Leopold de Waelplaats 2 2000 Antwerp www.kmska.be
What’s the story?
28 Nov 2024 > 09 Feb 2025
What’s the Story? is all about the dialogue between the collection and contemporary artists. Artists past and present influence our ideas about which universal subjects we consider important today. The presentation shows how the same themes changed over the centuries and how artists build on each other’s work. Shown together, the artworks tell a shared story. Three themes are featured: life and death, seduction and storytelling. Works by Jacob Jordaens, Jan Massijs and Constant Permeke from the museum’s collection enter into dialogue with those of Evelyne Axell, Maen Florin, Kati Heck, Jozef Legrand, Rinus Van de Velde, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven and Liliane Vertessen.
Panamarenko on paper
01 Feb 2025 > 04 May 2025
‘There is a wonder somewhere in that mechanism. If you could poke that out...’. This one sentence seems to sum up Panamarenko 's oeuvre (Antwerp 1940-2019 Brakel). His life’s work seemed like a kind of game without limits where experimentation took precedence over result. Or did it? KMSKA will be gathering together Panamarenko’s most playful works on paper for this exhibition.
MAS - MUSEUM AAN DE STROOM
Hanzestedeplaats 1 / 2000 Antwerp www.mas.be
COMPASSION
01 Feb 2025 > 31 Aug 2025
Wanting to help others and feeling or showing compassion is typically human. This new exhibition at the MAS explores questions such as: How do people put their compassion for others into practice? Why do they do it, and what are good examples of it? In this exhibition, visitors discover how the idea of compassion is represented in art and culture: religious and non-religious objects, works of art, popular objects and decorative pieces, as well as music, stories and customs show how people always strive to help others. Contemporary testimonies and critical voices also show how topical the theme is and still remains.
In MoMu’s exhibition, Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor, James Ensor’s ideas about masquerade, (false) coquetry, seduction, deception and transience are updated to the present day. MoMu celebrates the painters of fashion: the craftsmanship and inexhaustible creativity of make-up artists and hair stylists, in a multimedia exhibition combining light, colour, art, fashion and make-up. With works by James Ensor, Cindy Sherman, Tschabalala Self, Genieve Figgis, Inge Grognard, Martin Margiela, Christian Lacroix, Walter Van Beirendonck, Cyndia Harvey.
MUSEUM DE REEDE
Ernest van Dijckkaai 7 / 2000 Antwerp www.museum-dereede.com
Albrecht Dürer and Antwerp 7 Dec 2024 > 31 Mar 2025
Albrecht Dürer, one of the most influential artists of the Northern Renaissance, visited Antwerp in 1520-1521. During his stay, he met prominent figures from the art world and sold several of his works. Dürer was impressed by the city’s rich artistic scene and produced copious sketches and notes. His time in Antwerp contributed to his reputation in the Low Countries, and his visit also strengthened the cultural exchange between German and Flemish art. The exhibition, a collaboration with the KBR Museum, features more than 100 works by this iconic artist.
THE RUBENS HOUSE
Wapper 9-11 / 2000 Antwerp www.rubenshuis.be
Reopening of the Rubenshuis since 30 Aug 2024 Artist, marketeer, scientist, diplomat, family man... Rubens was an extraordinary talent, but also a downto-earth man. The Rubenshuis is where he lived happily and voraciously and worked for much of his life. The restoration of Rubens’s home will take a few more years to complete but the Rubens’ estate reopened in 2024 at Hopland 13, where the visit starts. Visitors can come face to face with the very first influencer through an immersive experience, wonder at the depth and breadth of his archives in the library and take a walk through the Baroque Garden where famous fashion designer Dries Van Noten cares for colour 365 days a year. Rubens’ work is visible the world over, but seeing his world is only possible here.
CHARLEROI
BPS22 – MUSÉE D’ART DE LA PROVINCE DU HAINAUT
Boulevard Solvay 22 / 6000 Charleroi
www.bps22.be
Candice Breitz
01 Feb 2025 > 11 May 2025
Known for her video installations, Candice Breitz (Johannesburg, 1952)
works with the languages of mass culture to highlight the influence they have on our perception of reality and our empathy towards our peers. From her first collages (Ghost series, 19941996) denouncing racial and gender stereotypes to her latest installation repurposing 1001 VHS sleeves and her fresco on the struggles of a community of sex workers in Cape Town, Candice Breitz explores celebrity culture, the ubiquity of social media and systems of white privilege as so many instruments vying for our attention.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY MUSEUM
Avenue Paul Pastur 11 / 6032 Charleroi www.museephoto.be
Surréalisme, pour ainsi dire… 05 Oct 2024 > 26 Jan 2025
Pol Pierart. De progrès ou de force
05 Oct 2024 > 26 Jan 2025
Simple and effective images that speak of strength and fragility, anger and illusions; powerful images that reflect disappointment, tender images sometimes that reflect hopes, small images with big ambitions, served so much better by a postcard format than by flattering enlargements; apt images in photographic aphorisms that are, more than those of a moralist, the sentences of a philosopher which, with their concluding words, always manage to move us.
Also on view:
Jérôme Cortie. Paradise
Hongsuk Ahn. Till the humming sleeps
Studio Stone
01 Feb 2025 > 18 May 2025
GHENT
MSK - MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Fernand Scribedreef 1 / 9000 Ghent www.mskgent.be
Restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece
02 May 2023 > 01 Mar 2026
The centenary of the publication of André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism, celebrated by numerous exhibitions and events around the world, seemed to be the ideal opportunity to look at one of the major areas of the Museum’s collection, Surrealist photography. Besides the acquisition of photographic prints, particular attention has been paid to publications, reviews, books and catalogues, which were the main means of disseminating Surrealist photography before there was a market for it.
The Photography Museum in Charleroi and the Amsab - Institut d’Histoire Ouvrière et Sociale in Ghent are joining forces to present the work of avant-garde photographers Cami and Sasha Stone.
Also on view:
Jean-Marc Wull. Les portraits oubliés Lucie Pastureau
Since 2023, seven panels of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers (more commonly known as the Ghent Altarpiece) have been undergoing restoration in the heart of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (MSK). Visitors could already follow the campaign from 2012 to 2019, and now the remaining panels are in the museum for the final restoration phase. During the week, the restorers of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) can be seen live at work, in the studio behind glass. At the weekend, the panels are placed in a location visible to visitors.
Erich Heckel
12 Oct 2024 > 26 Jan 2025
The German artist Erich Heckel (18831970) was one of the leading figures of German Expressionism and a co-founder of the artists’ association Die Brücke. During World War I, he worked as a nurse for the Red Cross in Roeselare, Ostend, and Ghent. His fascination with the Flemish landscapes and cities is reflected in his striking artworks: romantic and expressive, spiritual
and tangible, and above all, hopeful. With this monographic exhibition, the MSK has chosen to highlight a lesser-known but particularly intriguing period of this influential artist’s work.
MUSEUM DHONDT-DHAENENS
Museumlaan 14
9831 Sint-Martens-Latem www.museumdd.be
Eloquent Formalism
Collection Andries-Vanlouwe Foundation
17 Nov 2024 > 06 Apr 2025
MDD has officially inaugurated the renovated annexe with the exhibition Eloquent Formalism, presenting a wide selection from the Andries-Vanlouwe Foundation collection together for the first time. The collection of Jan and Lieve Andries-Vanlouwe was initiated during the Cold War period. The canon of European art history still seemed valid, and the narratives about art as a means of communication across borders and continents remained relatively undisputed. The collection reflects a deep-seated belief in a democratic and open-minded idea of art. Artists: Pierre Alechinsky, Lawrence Carroll, Lucio Fontana, Isa Genzken, Hans Hartung, Imi Knoebel, Eugène Leroy, René Magritte, Robert Mangold, Nic Nicosia, Panamarenko, Serge Poliakoff, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko, Léon Spilliaert, Mitja Tušek, Luc Tuymans, Koen van den Broek, Dan Van Severen, Hilde Van Sumere, Marthe Wéry.
home and abroad. Paintings, drawings, photographs, models, archival and other documentary material are brought together in fascinating thematic rooms.
Emptiness around me. A temporary farewell to the Roger Raveel Museum
13 Oct 2024 > 09 Feb 2025
S.M.A.K. – MUNICIPAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Jan Hoetplein 2 / 9000 Ghent www.smak.be
HELL ON EARTH, in search of Pur, Nur and Fur - Joris Van de Moortel
05 Oct 2024 > 02 Mar 2025
century craze for moving panoramas – a precursor of 20th and 21st-century cinema and immersive entertainment.
HORNU
This exhibition examines the typology of the monographic museum. Particular histories, specific museum aspects and architectural programmes are highlighted on the basis of several case studies of artists’ museums at
The museum is preparing for a temporary farewell: it will close its doors in spring 2025 for renovation works that will take just over a year. The museum halls will be stripped down and a selection of works from the collection will be hung sparingly. The focus shifts to Raveel’s later works in which the colour white plays a leading role.
25th anniversary of the Roger Raveel Museum
03 Nov 2024 > 09 Feb 2025
The museum looks back on its 25 years of existence through photographs, archives, an overview of exhibitions and highlights, and video interviews with the honorary curators Roland Jooris and Piet Coessens, amongst others. Special attention is also paid to the architecture, a design by Stéphane Beel, and the construction history of the Roger Raveel Museum. \ \
The automobile is an unusual object, one that imposes its own madcap infrastructure on the world, as well as shaping the landscape and the atmosphere just as much as our imaginations: an object located in the blind spot of our day-to-day lives. More than 1.2 billion automobiles are on the roads around the world today. Presented in 2022 at the Cité du design as part of the 12th Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial, the Autofiction exhibition has been adapted to reflect the latest developments on the subject of the automobile object for its presentation at the CID. \
For more than 15 years, Joris Van de Moortel (Ghent, 1983) has been building his multidisciplinary oeuvre, which transcends borders and defies conventions. His studio is akin to a laboratory of the imagination, where he experiments with materials and ideas like a modern alchemist. With HELL ON EARTH, in search of Pur, Nur and Fur, the artist has created an overwhelming installation that fills and transforms the space of the S.M.A.K. New oil paintings, watercolours, models, sculptures, videos and music converge in an almost esoteric setting, in which every corner tells a story, by turns hopeful and apocalyptic.
HASSELT
Z33 - HOUSE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
Bonnefantenstraat 1 / 3500 Hasselt www.z33.be
Lucy McKenzie
29 Sep 2024 > 23 Feb 2025
Z33 is presenting the first large institutional solo exhibition in Belgium by the Scottish artist Lucy McKenzie (Glasgow, 1977), who has been based in Brussels since 2006. McKenzie will respond to the distinctive architectural volumes of the new exhibition wing, Vleugel 19, with a series of scenes that echo public and semi-public spaces
– including a shopping street, a train station and a fairground – as well as focusing on the domestic space. The exhibition will feature several major new commissions, including works inspired by the mid- to late-19th-
CID - INNOVATION AND DESIGN CENTRE
Site du Grand-Hornu
Rue Sainte-Louise 82 / 7301 Hornu
www.cid-grand-hornu.be
Autofiction
06 Oct 2024 > 16 Feb 2025
MACS - MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Site du Grand-Hornu
Rue Sainte-Louise 82 / 7301 Hornu
www.mac-s.be
Daniel Turner
15 Dec 2024 > 06 Apr 2025
Daniel Turner (USA, 1983) works with abandoned infrastructure, recovering and working with found elements to make the spirit of places tangible. For his first museum exhibition in Belgium, he has worked with a particularly highly charged site, namely the Prison de Forest. Taking advantage of the dismantling of the prison, he explored the space and collected materials capable of recording the initial sensations generated by this carceral environment.
LA LOUVIÈRE
THE CENTRE FOR ENGRAVINGS AND PRINTS (CGII)
Rue des Amours 10 / 7100 La Louvière www.centredelagravure.be
Marchoul's people
24 Jan 2025 > 18 May 2025
This exhibition showcases the great Belgian engraver Gustave Marchoul (1924-2015). CGII has chosen to offer an original point of view by proposing an exhibition showing this Master’s influence on those who frequented him, notably through his teachings. The exhibition presents both his practice and that of his close friends and family, his students (a fascinating selection of fifteen French-speaking Belgian artists) at the Mons school where he taught for two years and then at La Cambre from 1966 to 1989, as well as his book workshops at the Musée Royal de Mariemont. Two hundred works are on display in a never-before-seen presentation.
KERAMIS – CERAMICS CENTRE
Place des Fours-Bouteilles 1 7100 La Louvière www.keramis.be
L’obscur objet des désirs les plus clairs. Rachel Labastie and Nicolas Delprat
16 Nov 2024 > 02 Mar 2025
She is a ceramist and sculptor, he is a painter. A couple in both art and life, sharing a studio in Brussels since 2011, Rachel Labastie and Nicolas Delprat have carte blanche at Keramis. Born in Bayonne in 1978, Rachel Labastie creates sculptures and installations dominated by the presence of earth, baked or raw. Born in Rennes in 1972, Nicolas Delprat reflects on the value of light in painting and its status as both subject and object throughout the history of art, from the invention of photography to the light object in contemporary art, recalling the installations of Dan Flavin or the environments of James Turrell.
La possibilité d’un portrait. Jeanne et Georges Vercheval 16 Nov 2024 > 02 Mar 2025
With the aim of offering them to Keramis, Georges Vercheval (Belgium, 1934) gathered the photographs he had taken during his life in various ceramics workshops. Amongst these is a beautiful collection of portraits that allow us to put a face to the creators of works in the collections of Keramis. Georges and Jeanne Vercheval also donated works by their ceramicist friends, such as
Marc Feulien and Helen Von Boch. This collection thus constituted is showcased in relation to the work of Rachel Labastie and Nicolas Delprat. The exhibition also highlights the feminist activism of Jeanne Vercheval, and the fight she led alongside Marie Moreau, a trade unionist at the Boch faience factory.
LEUVEN
M LEUVEN
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28 3000 Leuven www.mleuven.be
Peter Morrens – OEEEEEEUUUUVVRE 11 Oct 2024 > 02 Mar 2025
Peter Morrens (Belgium, 1965) is bringing his multifaceted oeuvre to M. His work encompasses paintings, drawings, photographs, installations and performances. Language, sound and image converge in his practice, in which knowing and not-knowing are inextricably intertwined. With disruptive humour and often searing images, the artist questions the things around him. His work is both playful and generous. It challenges a wealth of conventions and prejudices, lending it a provocative and contemplative character.
Collection of M
29 Jun 2024 > 29 Apr 2029
‘Collection of M’ spans several centuries: from ancient masters to contemporary makers and everything in between. The new displays showcase the richness of
M’s collection and challenge visitors to actively look. Masterpieces and little-known gems reveal unexpected parallels or highlight the burning issues of the day. The presentation beings out the diversity of the collection in all its fascinating depth. Sculpture, painting, video, ceramics, glass ... The displays feature every conceivable media and discipline: historical objects from the Middle Ages, contemporary artworks and an array of masterpieces from other periods, some of the works being exhibited for the first time. Various themes and stories come to the fore, sometimes in an obvious way, and at other times more subtly. What do artworks communicate that isn’t perhaps visible?
LIEGE
LA BOVERIE
Parc de la Boverie / 4020 Liege www.laboverie.com www.expo-pauldelvaux.com
The worlds of Paul Delvaux 04 Oct 2024 > 16 Mar 2025
As part of the 100th anniversary of Surrealism, Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), a leading figure in 20th-century Belgian painting, is being honoured in a major exhibition. Taking a novel approach, the exhibition reveals little-known facets
of this artist, known as the painter of women and railway stations. Through his paintings, drawings and objects, placed alongside each other or alongside the work of other artists, The worlds of Paul Delvaux provides an exceptional insight into Delvaux’s place in Surrealism, and in the history of art more broadly. The aim is to shed new light on a timeless body of work, revealing its complexity and engaging in a fresh dialogue with modern-day visitors.
MARIEMONT
ROYAL MUSEUM OF MARIEMONT
Chaussée de Mariemont 100 7140 Morlanwelz
www.musee-mariemont.be
Buddha 21 Sep 2024 > 20 May 2025
This year, Mariemont is showcasing its Asian collections! And who better than the figure of Buddha to embody the collective imaginary of East Asia? The exhibition examines the many representations of Buddha, the Buddhist pantheon and rituals. Every sculpture, painting and sacred object on display carries a meaning, a devotion, an active significance. The exhibition is an experience in which audiences are invited to create, offer, meditate and participate. Mariemont is embarking on a new path: that of the sensitive, multi-sensory prism.
MECHELEN
MUSEUM HOF VAN BUSLEYDEN
Frederik de Merodestraat 65 2800 Mechelen
www.hofvanbusleyden.be
Eternal Spring. Gardens and Tapestries in the Renaissance 14 Dec 2024 > 16 Mar 2025
This winter, Museum Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen is tempering the wait for spring with a lavish exhibition that pays homage to the rebirth of nature. Eternal Spring. Gardens and Tapestries in the Renaissance brings the splendour and magnificence of lush Renaissance gardens to life with imposing tapestries and other artistic treasures from the collection of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle. At the same time, the exhibition aims to expose the tension between human artifice and nature. After all, our desire to shape nature is timeless, and remains a burning issue to this day.
MONS
CAP - FINE ARTS MUSEUM MONS
Rue Neuve 8 / 7000 Mons
www.cap.mons.be
Surrealism: turning reality upside down 19 Oct 2024 > 16 Feb 2025
This exhibition about Surrealism in Belgium is part of the celebrations commemorating the birth of the movement in 1924. The Surrealist object has attracted attention from international museums for several years, but no exhibition has yet been devoted to the subject from the specifically Belgian perspective. Yet objects are central to the very definition of Surrealism. They are directly linked to the quest for social impact that characterises the movement. This exhibition explores the history of objects (three-dimensional objects, but also those featuring in poetry, painting, photography, collage and film) within Surrealism during the 1920s and 1930s, and then in the new consumer society that developed after the war. It places particular emphasis on the multiple relationships between Surrealism and commercial imagery.
SENEFFE
DOMAINE DU CHÂTEAU DE SENEFFE
Silver Museum of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
Rue Lucien Plasman 7-9 / 7180 Seneffe www.chateaudeseneffe.be
Thierry Bontridder.
Sculpteur de bijoux (1981-2024) 03 Dec 2024 > 11 Nov 2025
Thierry Bontridder, a Belgian jewellery designer, is renowned for the originality of his creations, working withunusual materials such as titanium, acrylic glass and nylon. Gradually, his artistic work shifted from jewellery, which is essentially sculptural, to actual sculpture, culminating in monumental, public works of art. His jewellery follows the same principles as his sculptures, with simple curves and shapes, playing on translucence and opacity, with subtle dialogues between light, space and colour. \
OPERAS, CONCERTS, DANCE & THEATRE
BRUSSELS
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
Place de la Monnaie – Muntplein
1000 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 229 12 11 www.lamonnaie.be - www.demunt.be
Dance
Amours Aveugles
Thu 23 & Fri 24 Jan 2025 at 8 pm
@ KVS Bol, Rue de Laeken 146, 1000 Brussels
Concertini.
Friday afternoon chamber music
Liszt / Wagner / Chopin
Fri 24 Jan 2025 at 12.30 pm
@ La Monnaie I Grand Foyer
Recital Werner Van Mechelen & Florestan Bataillie ‘Lebenswandel’
Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 12.30 pm
@ La Monnaie I Fiocco Room
Vocalissimo
For Cathy - Sarah Aristidou & Spectra Ensemble
Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 7 pm
@ BOZAR, Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
BOZAR - CENTRE FOR FINE ARTS
Rue Ravenstein 23 / 1000 Brussels t. +32 (0)2 507 82 00 / www.bozar.be
Concerts, Symphonic
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela & Gustavo Dudamel
Thu 23 Jan 2025 at 8 pm
Concerts, Electronic Music
Bozar x Reset #6
Thu 23 Jan 2025 at 8 pm
Concerts, Young talents
Nemø ensemble - As part of ‘Portrait Berio-Berberian’
Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 11 am
Concerts
Hyoid & Joris Lacoste: A-Ronne - As part of ‘Portrait Berio-Berberian’
Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 3 pm & 5.30 pm
@ Halles de Schaerbeek, Rue Royale
Sainte Marie 22b, 1030 Brussels
Concerts, Global Music
The Grand Chinese New Year Concert in the Year of the Snake
Wed 29 Jan 2025 at 8 pm
Concerts, Young talents
Yiheng Wang. piano recital Sun 2 Feb 2025 at 11 am
FLAGEY
Place Sainte-Croix / 1050 Brussels t. +32 (0)2 641 10 20 / www.flagey.be
Music, Orchestra, Contemporary
Widmann: Concerto for Horn
Brussels Philharmonic, Stefan Dohr & Kazushi Ono Sat 25 Jan 2025 at 8.15 pm
Sat 25 Jan 2025 at 8 pm & at 7.15 pm: introduction by Ignace Bossuyt
Wim Berteloot. Bach on the carillon
Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 11 am @ Belfort, Markt 7, 8000 Bruges
Cindy Castillo. Bach in dialogue
Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 11 am @ Saint Walburga church, Sint-Maartensplein, 8000 Bruges
Thibaut Garcia & Antoine Morinière Bach. Goldberg Variations Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 2 pm
Le Consort. Bach und ein Stainer Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 4 pm
Collegium Vocale Gent. Ach süßer Trost! Sun 26 Jan 2025 at 7.30 pm
Dance
The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky
Wed 29 Jan 2025 at 8 pm
Mycelium. Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon / Christos Papadopoulos
Sat 01 Feb 2025 at 8 pm
Music Theatre
UnRAVELed. Zonzo Compagnie & Revue Blanche
Sun 02 Feb 2025 at 3 pm
OPERA ROYAL DE WALLONIE
Place de l’Opéra / 4000 Liege t. +32 (0)4 221 47 22 www.operaliege.be
Opera young public
Freely inspired by Rossini’s
William Tell, la belle et franche aventure de Petit-Guillaume
Participative opera
Sun 26 Jan at 11 am & 3 pm
Wed 29 Jan at 3 pm, Sat 01 Feb 2025 at 11 am & 3 pm
Opera
Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde
Tue 28 Jan at 7 pm, Thu 30 Jan at 7 pm & Sun 02 Feb 2025 at 3 pm
WATERLOO
QUEEN ELISABETH MUSIC CHAPEL
Chaussée de Tervuren 445 1410 Waterloo
t. +32 (0)2 352 01 17
www.musicchapel.org
Piano, Violin
Horizon with Michael Guttman
Classical meets Tango
Thu 23 Jan 2025 at 8.15 pm
Chamber Music, Viola, Masterclass
Open MasterclassViola & Chamber Music
Miguel da Silva
Tue 28 Jan 2025 at 2 pm
Voice, Artist Diploma, Associate Artist Piano
Wed 29 Jan 2025 at 8.15 pm
Thu 30 Jan 2025 at 12 noon \ \
Artist Diploma - Louise Foor, soprano accompanied by Sophie Raynaud, piano
MuCH Surprise, MuCH soloists
The Artists in Residence surprise you with their ‘cartes blanches’.
BOOKSHOPS
LIBRAIRIE CANDIDE
Place Georges Brugmann 1-2
1050 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 344 81 94 www.librairie-candide.be
LIBRAIRIE FILIGRANES
Avenue des Arts 39-42 / 1040 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 511 90 15 www.filigranes.be
PASSA PORTA
Rue Antoine Dansaert 46
1000 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 226 04 54 www.passaporta.be
LIBRAIRIE PEINTURE FRAÎCHE
Rue Lesbroussart 9 & 39 / 1050 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 537 11 05 www.peinture-fraiche.be
TROPISMES LIBRAIRES
Galerie des Princes 11, Galeries Royales
Saint-Hubert / 1000 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 512 88 52 www.tropismes.com
WATERSTONES
Boulevard Adolphe Max 71-75
1000 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 219 27 08 www.waterstones.com/ bookshops/brussels
MUSIC STORE
LA BOÎTE À MUSIQUE
Coudenberg 74 / 1000 Brussels
t. +32 (0)2 513 09 65
www.classicalmusic.be
SHOPPING AREAS IN BRUSSELS
Brussels offers a wide range of shopping experiences, from the cosy charm of the luxury boutiques uptown to the bubbling creativity of the avant-garde Belgian and international designers downtown. Follow the guide...
RUE ANTOINE DANSAERT AND ITS SURROUNDINGS
The area has a great atmosphere and is full of lively bars and restaurants. The temple of fashion STIJL is a must-see, featuring Belgian designers for men and women such as Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Christian Wynants, Walter Van Beirendonck, JEANPAULKNOTT, Sofie D’Hoore, Y-Project, Jan-Jan Van Essche, Maison Margiela, Marina Yee, Rick Owens… and the first Ann Demeulemeester ‘A’ perfume. Other boutiques located nearby include Café Costume, Hatshoe, Kat en Muis for childrenswear, the iconic Underwear, the multi-brand shops ICON… - STIJL - WOMEN, Rue Antoine Dansaert 74
- STIJL - MEN, Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 6
GALERIES ROYALES SAINT-HUBERT NEAR THE GRAND PLACE
Inaugurated in 1847, the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert was the largest, most beautiful shopping area in Europe at the time, constructed with a technical prowess that attracted admiration from
all sides. Situated close to the Grand Place, the elegant interior houses luxury boutiques, restaurants, an arthouse cinema, a unique bookshop, a charming hotel… Visit www.grsh.be
Don’t miss:
- Maison Delvaux, luxury leather handbags, Galerie de la Reine 31
- Boutique Ligne, for the best in contemporary design, Galerie du Roi 14
SABLON
This bustling square is surrounded by antiques dealers as well as contemporary art galeries. Some of the very best Belgian chocolate shops and restaurants can also be found here. Further along, vintage clothing and furniture is on offer in the Marolles area where the famous flea market of the Place du Jeu de Balle, one of the most colourful markets in the city, takes place every day.
Don’t miss:
- Nathalie Vleeschouwer, Belgian designers’ shop, Rue Ernest Allard 8
- Lunetier Ludovic, genuine craftsmanship for bespoke luxury eyeglasses, Rue Ernest Allard 14
BOULEVARD DE WATERLOO, RUE DE NAMUR & AVENUE LOUISE
The Boulevard de Waterloo, one of the main luxury shopping areas in Belgium, is home to the most illustrious boutiques, home to designers such as Balenciaga, Gucci, Versace, Prada, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Tod’s, Giorgio Armani, Diane Von Furstenberg, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s, Maison Delvaux… The Avenue Louise area showcases international and Belgian international brands: Essentiel Antwerp, Bellerose, the fabulous perfumes of Sentiers d’Ailleurs…
Don’t miss here:
- Natan Couture, Avenue Louise 158 & Natan Prêt-à-Porter, Rue de Namur 78
- Carine Gilson, exclusive silk lingerie and nightwear (worn by a Bond girl!), Rue de Namur 65b
PLACE BRUGMANN AND SURROUNDINGS
This is a trendy, bohemian area full of exciting clothing and design shops such as Graphie Sud, Scènes de Ménage, Natan Atelier II, Elles, Lucia Esteves, Vintage Items, Bonnie and Jane and Homepage Furniture.
Don’t miss here:
- JEANPAULKNOTT, Rue Franz Merjay 147
- Cachemire Coton et Soie, Rue Franz Merjay 53
- Eva Velazquez, reinvented utilitarian clothing, Rue Franz Merjay 56
TOURIST INFORMATION
VISIT BRUSSELS
@ BIP (Brussels Info Place), Rue Royale 2-4 / 1000 Brussels @ Town Hall of Brussels, Grand-Place / 1000 Brussels t. +32 (0)2 513 89 40 www.visitbrussels.be
Did you know? The Brussels Card gives you free access to no fewer than 49 museums, and discounts on tourist attractions and city hotspots. A free app, information guide, city and museum app are also included. With supplement: access to public transport, Hop on Hop off buses & The Atomium. https://shop.brusselscard.be/en
2025, YEAR OF ART DECO IN BRUSSELS
In 2025, Brussels will be celebrating Art Deco 100 years after the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, which gave its name to the ‘Art Deco style’.
A star of the Roaring Twenties, its aesthetic flourished in architecture, furniture, fashion, cinema, music and more. Brussels boasts some magnificent examples, including the Villa Empain (Boghossian Foundation), the Museum van Buuren, BOZAR (Centre for Fine Arts), the Flagey building, Hotel Riez, the Koekelberg Basilica, the Municipal Hall in Forest, the Eldorado room at cinema UGC De Brouckère, the Saint-Josse swimming pool, etc.
