The ''Musée Hergé'', or Hergé Museum, is a
museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
in
Louvain-la-Neuve
Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...
, Belgium, dedicated to the life and work of the Belgian
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
, creator of the series of comic albums, ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
''.
The museum is located in the centre of Louvain-la-Neuve, on the edge of a green park, Le Parc de la Source. Its address is "Rue Labrador 26",
Tintin
Tintin usually refers to:
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series
Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to:
Material related to ''The A ...
's first home in the books. It was designed by the French architect
Christian de Portzamparc
Christian de Portzamparc (; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist.
He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970. His projects reflect a sensibility to their environment and to urbanism that is a found ...
,
with interiors designed by the cartoonist
Joost Swarte
Joost Swarte (born 24 December 1947 in Heemstede) is a Dutch cartoonist and graphic designer. He is best known for his ligne claire or ''clear line'' style of drawing, a term he coined.
Comic series and characters by Swarte include ''Katoen en ...
,
and opened in June 2009.
It consists of three floors with a total of nine exhibition rooms, a café, museum shop and mini cinema.
History
The idea of a museum dedicated to the work of
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
can be traced back to the end of the 1970s, when Hergé himself was still alive. After his death in 1983, Hergé's widow, Fanny, led the efforts, undertaken at first by the
Hergé Foundation
The Hergé Foundation is the official organisation that looks after the world and works of Hergé and his creation ''The Adventures of Tintin'', along with his other comics like '' Quick & Flupke'' and '' Jo, Zette and Jocko''. Created from Stud ...
and then by the new
Studios Hergé
The Studios Hergé () were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and derived products. Over the years, the studios ...
, to catalogue and choose the artwork and elements that would eventually become part of the Hergé Museum's exhibitions.
The location for the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve was originally chosen in 2001. The futuristic building was designed by the
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...
-winning French architect
Christian de Portzamparc
Christian de Portzamparc (; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist.
He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970. His projects reflect a sensibility to their environment and to urbanism that is a found ...
,
with interiors designed by the cartoonist
Joost Swarte
Joost Swarte (born 24 December 1947 in Heemstede) is a Dutch cartoonist and graphic designer. He is best known for his ligne claire or ''clear line'' style of drawing, a term he coined.
Comic series and characters by Swarte include ''Katoen en ...
.
On 22 May 2007 (the centenary of Hergé's birth), the first stone of the museum was laid.
Two years later, in June 2009, the museum opened its doors to the public.
During the museum's inauguration, journalists were informed of the museum's policy that no photos are allowed to be taken inside the museum to prevent "copyright abuse due to the work exposed". Disgruntled, some journalists left the museum.
Journalists were allowed to photograph some parts of the museum when
King Albert II toured the museum the following month. 100,000 visitors arrived during the museum's first year.
In October 2013, it was announced that the museum was operating at a loss.
Although the museum is entirely private and belongs to the
Hergé Foundation
The Hergé Foundation is the official organisation that looks after the world and works of Hergé and his creation ''The Adventures of Tintin'', along with his other comics like '' Quick & Flupke'' and '' Jo, Zette and Jocko''. Created from Stud ...
which holds rights over Hergé's work,
the owner, Nick Rodwell, requested financial assistance from the
Belgian Government
The Federal Government of Belgium ( ; ; ) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the polit ...
.
Today, the museum is mainly visited by tourists.
The museum has been accused of catering to die-hard fans at the expense of other groups.
Museum
The Hergé Museum contains eight permanent galleries displaying original artwork by
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
, and telling the story of his life and career. Although his most famous creation, ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'', features prominently, his other comic strip characters (such as ''
Jo, Zette and Jocko
''The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Hergé, the writer-artist best known for ''The Adventures of Tintin''. The heroes of the series are two young children, brother and sister Jo and Zette Legran ...
'', and ''
Quick and Flupke'') are also present. The exhibitions also include examples of Hergé's diverse and prolific output working as a graphic designer in the 1930s.
Visitors begin at the top floor.
The first room is dedicated to Hergé's life. The second room displays Hergé's many interests, his early commercial illustrations, and his early comics. Visitors then cross a long walkway, viewing the lobby on one side and an oak forest outside on the other. The third room introduces the world of Tintin, with nine glass
vitrines dedicated to the
main characters of the series. The fourth room focuses on Hergé and cinema. Moving down one floor, visitors enter the largest room in the museum, devoted to places in the world Tintin has travelled. Next to this is another large room of
Professor Calculus
Professor Cuthbert Calculus ( , meaning "Professor Tryphon Sunflower") is a fictional character in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is Tintin (character), Tintin's friend, an absent-minded profess ...
' "laboratory", which focuses on science in the Tintin books. Crossing a lower bridge, visitors learn about
Studios Hergé
The Studios Hergé () were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and derived products. Over the years, the studios ...
. The final room is called "Hergé Acclaimed", showing Hergé's connections to politicians, artists and philosophers.
The museum houses a temporary exhibition gallery on the main floor, which is updated every few months to host new exhibitions (with diverse titles such as ''Tintin, Hergé and Trains'' and ''Into Tibet with Tintin''). Visitors are offered a three-hour narrated tour of the museum via headphones connected to an iPod.
Controversies and criticism
When the building was unveiled to the press on May 25, 2009, they were not allowed to photograph or film any of the exhibits "to avoid a multitude of shots of the originals on display in the rooms". This provoked the anger of some journalists, who left the inauguration.
The construction of the Musée Hergé also led to the closure of the Maison des Jeunes de Louvain-la-Neuve, as the building it occupied on the outskirts of the museum's present site was demolished. Since then, the Maison des Jeunes has found a new home a few steps away, on the voie des Hennuyers.
Some media noted that the museum lacks a critical view on Hergé. German news outlet ''
Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
'' wrote: "
..the only things we learn
bout Hergéin Louvain is what his sole heiress and widow Fanny Rodwell wants to let us know. According to the countless private black-and-white photographs and exhibition texts, Hergé
..was a very smart, cheerful man, sociable, with a large circle of friends and an enormous creative power (which certainly no one disputes). The visitor learns absolutely nothing about his sympathies for Brussels' racist policies in the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...
and
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
- which the artist later openly regretted -, about his partially reactionary, strictly Catholic upbringing or even about his severe depression."
See also
*
List of museums in Belgium
This is a list of museums located in Belgium.
Alken, Belgium, Alken
*
Antwerp
*DIVA Museum for Diamonds, Jewellery and Silver
*EcoHuis
*Etnographic Museum
*Fotomuseum
*Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA)
*Museum ...
*
List of single-artist museums
This is a list of single-artist museum, single–artist museums, which are museums displaying the work, or bearing the name, of a single visual artist.
See also
* :Museums devoted to one artist
* List of art museums
* List of most visited art mu ...
References
External links
*
Virtual visit of the Hergé Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee Herge
Biographical museums in Belgium
Museums established in 2009
Musee Herge
Cartooning museums
Musee Herge
Musee Herge
Hergé
Herge