The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th was a period of great artistic dynamism and creativity in Europe when movements such as impressionism, post-impressionism, realism and symbolism were born.
Brussels’ location at the heart of the continent helped the city become an important artistic crossroads and magnet for artists from France, Germany and the UK. It was also considered one of the birthplaces of the art nouveau movement thanks to the pioneering figure of Belgian architect Victor Horta.
The Musée Fin-de-Siècle, which opened in Brussels at the end of last year, is one of six museums run by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
It covers the period 1868-1914 and is in a building that used to house the city’s Museum of Modern Art. Belgian artists James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff and Léon Spilliaert, and foreign artists such as Auguste Rodin and Pierre Bonnard are featured.
Its displays include paintings, sculpture, photography and prints to glassware, literature and furniture. And the Gillion Crowet family donated its collection of art nouveau glassware, silverware, jewellery, paintings and furniture to the city in 2006 and this can now be seen by the public at the museum for the first time.
Other partners in the project include the Royal Library, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and the Royal Museums of Art and History.
The opening of the Musée Fin-de-Siècle comes four years after the unveiling of the Magritte museum in Brussels and will be followed in 2017-18 by the third phase of the reorganisation of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts with the development of a museum dedicated to modern art from 1914 to the present day.
Giovanna Dunmall is a freelance writer and editor
What was the idea behind this museum?
Inga Rossi-Schrimpf: To reinterpret and reorganise our existing collections and to work with the collections and archives of other federal museums, libraries and even the national opera archives to give a global idea of this significant period in Belgian and European art history. We wanted to show that the different arts were not separated, but part of a wider movement.
What are the highlights?
The room dedicated to social realism and the art of Constantin Meunier is a highlight, as is our James Ensor collection. He represents the evolution of Belgian art and a more sombre realism at first that gave way to a fantastical universe full of colour.
I’d also point to three pieces by Gauguin, above all The Green Christ, which greatly influenced Belgian painters. And finally the room dedicated to Belgian symbolist Fernand Khnopff seen in context next to works by pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones.
One gallery is devoted solely to the Gillion Crowet art nouveau collection. Can you tell us a bit more about the collection?
Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet started to rescue these pieces during the 1960s from flea markets. Art nouveau was seen as something very kitsch at the time – had been for decades, in fact – so people wanted to rid themselves of any objects they had. That’s also how several important buildings, such as Victor Horta’s Maison du Peuple, were destroyed.
What are the most innovative features of the museum?
We worked with the latest software on 3D reconstructions of six significant art nouveau houses in Belgium that can be seen via touchscreens and projections. Three of these houses still exist (though some are in private hands) and three were demolished. In each case you can see the exterior and some of the interiors exactly as they were when first built.
Why is this art not really known outside Belgium?
Belgium is such a small country so sometimes it’s also a case of not properly distinguishing what is French and what is Belgian. Sadly, many works by Belgian artists never found their way into the international collections the way other painters’ work did.
Do you think the museum will raise the profile of this movement?
Before, the works were laid out in a more conventional fashion and people came to see specific works by individual artists. Now, visitors will still be able to see individual works but they will get a better understanding of the whole period and the spirit of the time. They’ll be able to witness and experience the wealth of creativity that existed in Brussels.
Brussels’ location at the heart of the continent helped the city become an important artistic crossroads and magnet for artists from France, Germany and the UK. It was also considered one of the birthplaces of the art nouveau movement thanks to the pioneering figure of Belgian architect Victor Horta.
The Musée Fin-de-Siècle, which opened in Brussels at the end of last year, is one of six museums run by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
It covers the period 1868-1914 and is in a building that used to house the city’s Museum of Modern Art. Belgian artists James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff and Léon Spilliaert, and foreign artists such as Auguste Rodin and Pierre Bonnard are featured.
Its displays include paintings, sculpture, photography and prints to glassware, literature and furniture. And the Gillion Crowet family donated its collection of art nouveau glassware, silverware, jewellery, paintings and furniture to the city in 2006 and this can now be seen by the public at the museum for the first time.
Other partners in the project include the Royal Library, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and the Royal Museums of Art and History.
The opening of the Musée Fin-de-Siècle comes four years after the unveiling of the Magritte museum in Brussels and will be followed in 2017-18 by the third phase of the reorganisation of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts with the development of a museum dedicated to modern art from 1914 to the present day.
Giovanna Dunmall is a freelance writer and editor
What was the idea behind this museum?
Inga Rossi-Schrimpf: To reinterpret and reorganise our existing collections and to work with the collections and archives of other federal museums, libraries and even the national opera archives to give a global idea of this significant period in Belgian and European art history. We wanted to show that the different arts were not separated, but part of a wider movement.
What are the highlights?
The room dedicated to social realism and the art of Constantin Meunier is a highlight, as is our James Ensor collection. He represents the evolution of Belgian art and a more sombre realism at first that gave way to a fantastical universe full of colour.
I’d also point to three pieces by Gauguin, above all The Green Christ, which greatly influenced Belgian painters. And finally the room dedicated to Belgian symbolist Fernand Khnopff seen in context next to works by pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones.
One gallery is devoted solely to the Gillion Crowet art nouveau collection. Can you tell us a bit more about the collection?
Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet started to rescue these pieces during the 1960s from flea markets. Art nouveau was seen as something very kitsch at the time – had been for decades, in fact – so people wanted to rid themselves of any objects they had. That’s also how several important buildings, such as Victor Horta’s Maison du Peuple, were destroyed.
What are the most innovative features of the museum?
We worked with the latest software on 3D reconstructions of six significant art nouveau houses in Belgium that can be seen via touchscreens and projections. Three of these houses still exist (though some are in private hands) and three were demolished. In each case you can see the exterior and some of the interiors exactly as they were when first built.
Why is this art not really known outside Belgium?
Belgium is such a small country so sometimes it’s also a case of not properly distinguishing what is French and what is Belgian. Sadly, many works by Belgian artists never found their way into the international collections the way other painters’ work did.
Do you think the museum will raise the profile of this movement?
Before, the works were laid out in a more conventional fashion and people came to see specific works by individual artists. Now, visitors will still be able to see individual works but they will get a better understanding of the whole period and the spirit of the time. They’ll be able to witness and experience the wealth of creativity that existed in Brussels.
Project data
- Cost €8.7m
- Main funders Belgian Buildings Agency; Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; Baron and Baroness Gillion Crowet
- Visual identity Base Design
- Architects Winston Spriet and Martial Prévert
- Lighting Joost de Beij
- Vitrines Meyvaert Glass Engineering
- Lighting Joost de Beij
- Vitrines Meyvaert Glass Engineering
- Multimedia Inter2Face
- Audioguide Espro Acoustics
