MUSÉE
MAGRITTE MUSEUM - BRUSSELS
Surrealism at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts at the Place Royal in Brussels had long
had a few rooms dedicated to the works of the Belgian born Surrealist,
Rene Magritte, but with the assistance of the Magritte Foundation and
GDF Suez companies, in June of 2009, opened the new Magritte Museum on
four floors of the refurbished Altenloh Hotel building attached to the
fine arts museum holding more than 200 works of Magritte including oils
on canvas, gouaches, drawings, painted objects and sculptures, as well
as letters, historical documents, advertising posters, music scores,
vintage photographs and films which Magritte produced. The collection
follows the development of Magritte as an artist, shaped as much by his
changing world view as by his developing technique.
Though neither
the first or last, perhaps no other artist is more famously associated
with Surrealism than the artist born in Lessines, Hainaut
in 1898 (though some might propose Salvador Dali). Magritte started taking
painting classes at the age of 12, influenced by a fascination with Edgar
Allen Poe and the films depicting a fictional French serial killer character
Fantômas, perhaps deeply influenced by the suicide of his mother,
who drowned herself when he was 14. He studied art at the Académie
des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he was introduced to a teaming artistic
cauldron changing art forms, Dadaists and Constructivists. Inspired by
Italian surrealist Giorgio de Chirico’s, “The Song of Love”,
Magritte starts on his own journey into surrealism stating with his “The
Lost Jockey” in 1926. Returning to Brussels to open an advertising
agency, Studio Dongo, with his brother, Magritte entered a very productive
period in the 1930s. When the war broke out, Magritte left Belgium for
the South of France. And in the 1950s began to explore filmmaking, and
sculpture until his death in 1967.
The
collection at the royal museum is a little shy on Magritte’s
major paintings which are in the hands of collectors and museums around
the world, though temporary exhibitions will bring some of them to Brussels.
Several of the paintings here feature Georgette Berger, Magritte’s
wife and muse, to be found in many of his works clothed, nude, invisible,
hidden and otherwise. Many of the pieces on view are sketch works, ruminations,
and illustrations of a developing artist’s distinctive viewpoint,
his unique - there, but not there - picture of the world, like a child
forever playing peek-a-boo.
The museum
is entered through the main portal of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts,
then down
to the lower floor for the entrance to an elevator
ride to the top, with the exhibit followed downward through the floors
in a circulating route. Many of the artifacts, like Magritte’s
hand written notes and printed articles are in French, so non-speakers
will have to make do with audio guide descriptions. The new Magritte
Museum is a very popular stop in Brussels with timed entry tickets reserved
in advance. It may be possible to show up early for an immediate entry
ticket, but the slots will fill during the day for latter the same day
or the next day entry. Advanced tickets can be purchased online.
Completely separate from the Magritte Museum at the Royal Museum, the house where Magritte lived with his wife Georgette until 1954 is also a museum, the René Magritte Museum, located at Rue Esseghem 135 in the north Brussels neighborhood of Jette, with exhibits of Magritte’s home life spread over two floors.
Visiting the Magritte Museum
The
Magritte Museum at the Royal Museum is open Tuesday to Sundays 10am to
5pm. Closed on Mondays and some holidays. Admission for adults is
8 €, Seniors 6 €, Students 18-25 2 €, free for children
under 18, disabled or with a Brussels Card. The Modern Art and Ancient
Art branches at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts require separate admission,
with a combination ticket available for 13 €. Audio Guides in
five languages are 4 €. © Bargain
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