Opening
on 2nd June 2009
Magritte
MUSÉE MUSEUM
© Suez
The Dominion of Light (L’Empire des lumières), 1954,
© Charly Herscovici, with his kind permission
c/o SABAM-ADAGP, 2008
www.musee-magritte-museum.be
René Magritte
Magritte is the 20th century’s most important
Belgian painter and one of the ten best-known
in the world.
exhibition was a fiasco. Disheartened, Magritte
René Magritte, the brilliant magician of the visible, took Georgette with him to Paris, where he got to
was born at Lessines in the province of Hainaut, know the surrealists, Aragon, Breton and Eluard.
Belgium, on 21st November 1898. His father was His paintings did not sell.
a merchant-tailor. The family moved to Châtelet.
René was 14 when his mother threw herself into In 1930, the couple returned to Brussels. After
the river Sambre. She was found dead a few days moving house several times, they settled in Jette,
later, her face covered by her nightdress. The rue Esseghem, where Magritte was to work for
terrible force of this image was to resurface time 24 years. In the garden, he opened an advertising
and again in Magritte’s work. workshop; to paint, he preferred his dining room-
cum-workshop. Several features of this house —
In 1917, he moved to Brussels. René studied the fireplace, the glass-panelled doors, the sash
painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and married windows, etc. — can be seen in his work. This
Georgette, whom he had met in Charleroi. She was house, which has been open to the public since
to be his companion, model and Muse. To make 1999, was also the headquarters of his Belgian
ends meet, Magritte took on a job as a graphic surrealist friends and from it emerged a mass of
designer in a wallpaper factory. subversive writings, reviews and pamphlets.
In the 20s, he met his fellow surrealists: Marcel The group also liked to meet at the ‘La Fleur en
Lecomte, E.L.T. Mesens, Camille Goemans, André Papier Doré’, a tavern run by an art-dealer friend
Souris, Paul Nougé, Louis Scutenaire, a group of Magritte. In 1954, René and Georgette moved to
of writers and musicians who had been scarred Schaerbeek, rue des Mimosas. It was there that
by the horrors of war and were determined to this man of petit-bourgeois appearance with his
throw off the shackles of convention. Among bowler hat, pipe, cup-and-ball toy and leafless
them, Magritte, influenced by futurism and the trees died in August 1967. But supposing that
work of Chirico, was the only painter. His first reality is not what we think it is?
Art Nouveau
through its architecture, society, culture and gastronomy. It
permeates the metro stations and the cafés where Magritte
used to meet up with his friends!
In the same Mont des Arts, Art Nouveau, the jewel of
Brussels creativity at the turn of the 20th century, is a
feature of the architecture of both the Centre for Fine Arts
(Bozar) and the Museum of Musical Instruments. Other Art
Nouveau masterpieces are to be found in the squares near
the European quarter. With Victor Horta, the figurehead of
this style, the reputation of Belgian architecture crossed
borders, something unthinkable in Brussels where to call
someone an “Architect” is an insult. Surrealist, you did say
surrealist?
Europe
A stone’s throw from the squares, in a surrealist mixture
only a native of Brussels could have imagined, the
European quarter with its steel and glass buildings is
home to the major European institutions. Its centrepiece
is the European Parliament. No, it’s not a whim of the
gods as some would have us believe! Nearby, the Antoine
Wiertz Museum, the hideout of a kitsch painter. Magritte
painted a variation of his Beautiful Rosine (Belle Rosine).
Comic strips
Tintin, Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe, Johan, Pirlouit, these are
just a few of the heroes dreamed up by Belgian strip
cartoon artists. They were the originators of comic strips
(the “9th art”), which as it happens will be to the fore in
2009 in Brussels and Wallonia, and which is loved by young
and old alike. Housed in an Art Nouveau building, the
Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art is the very expression
of this art form. And could a “Comic Strip Trail”, with walls
covered in cartoon characters, exist anywhere else than in
Brussels? As well as being hilarious, it is Great Art.
Brussels Card
recently became a cultural centre in homage to
the surrealists.
Rue des Alexiens 55, 1000 Brussels. 24, 48, 72 hours
Free access to 26 museums, including Magritte
Le Greenwich Museum
Free use of the Brussels public transport system (STIB)
The chess players’ den, not far from the Brussels Reductions in restaurants, bars,
Stock Exchange. It was here that Magritte took shops and tourist attractions
part in some memorable games with his friends. Free city street plan
Free information guide
Rue des Chartreux 7, 1000 Brussels.
www.brusselsinternational.be
René Magritte Museum www.brusselscard.be
Pro Velo
www.provelo.org
Tel.: + 32 2 502 73 55
Museum website
www.musee-magritte-museum.be
Access :
Opening times
The Museum is accessible to disabled per- Car park: Albertine – Congrès, access via
Tuesdays to Sundays, 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. sons : 2 Place Royale Rue des Sols or Place du Palais de Justice
Last admissions 4 p.m. Late night opening on
Wednesdays until 8 p.m. Closed on Mondays, Metro : Gare Central or Parc (line1) Overnight Car park:
1st January, 2nd Thursday of January, 1st May, Rail : Brussels Central MABRU (morning market)
1st and 11th November, 25th December. Trams : 92 et 94 Quai des Usines 22-23 - 1000 Brussels
Buses : 27, 29, 38, 71 et 95 Tel. : +32 2 215 5169
General information
Tel. : + 32 2 508 32 11
Fax : + 32 2 508 32 32
info@fine-arts-museum.be
Information,
Communications, Promotion
Ticketing
Timeslots: hourly
Ticket reservation
info@musee-magritte-museum.be
Tel. : +32 2 508.33.33
Ticket reservations from 2nd Avril 2009
Tel. Tour Operator : +32 2 508.34.56
Guided visits: Tel : +32 2 508.33.33 / French,
Dutch, English, German, Spanish and Italian.
No visits with external guides permitted • Tape
guide: 4 € / French, Dutch, English, German •
Catalogue: 15 €/ French, Dutch, English
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