The René Magritte Museum (; ) is a museum in

Jette Jette (; ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Fl ...

, a municipality in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, devoted to the Belgian

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

artist

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...

. The museum is located at 135, /, in the house where Magritte lived and worked for twenty-four years, between 1930 and 1954. On the ground floor of the house is the apartment where Magritte and his wife

Georgette Georgette is a feminine given name, the French form of (''Geōrgia''), the feminine form of George. Georgette may refer to: People * Georgette Barry (1919–2003), stage name Andrea King, American actress * Georgette Bauerdorf (1924–1944), Am ...

resided, while the first and the second floors display a biographical exhibition.

History

, originally from the Walloon

province of Hainaut A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provin ...

, moved to Brussels in 1915 at the age of 17 and lived in seven different apartments until his death in 1967. He only interrupted these Brussels years by staying in the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian suburb of

Le Perreux-sur-Marne Le Perreux-sur-Marne (, ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. History The commune of Le Perreux-s ...

, where he lived from 1927 to 1930. Back in Belgium, Magritte and his wife Georgette rented the ground floor apartment of 135, rue Esseghem. The artist created half of his work there (800 paintings), drawing abundant inspiration from its interior. The apartment also served as headquarters for the Brussels

group of which Magritte was then a part and which included

Paul Nougé Paul Nougé (; 12 February 1895 – 6 November 1967) was a Belgian poet, founder and theoretician of surrealism in Belgium, sometimes known as the "Belgian Breton". Biography Born of a French father who originated from the Charent region in F ...

, E.L.T. Mesens,

Louis Scutenaire Louis Scutenaire (29 June 1905 – 15 August 1987) was a Belgian French-language poet, anarchist, surrealist and civil servant. Born Jean Émile Louis Scutenaire in Ollignies, he died in Brussels. Life Louis Scutenaire is chiefly remembered as ...

, Irène Hamoir Scutenaire, Paul Colinet and

Marcel Mariën Marcel Mariën (29 April 1920 – 19 September 1993) was a Belgian surrealist (later Situationist), poet, essayist, photographer, collagist, and filmmaker. Mariën was a pivotal member of the Belgian wing of the Surrealist movement. In addition ...

. René and Georgette moved in 1954 to a bigger

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

, which, as they thought, was better suited to their social status. In Georgette's will, however, she indicated that the house in Jette was the most important for Magritte's biography. After Georgette's death in 1986, there were requests to convert the couple's last villa into a museum, but this failed due to a lack of financial resources and support from state institutions. The Schaerbeek villa, as well as Magritte's inventory and personal belongings, were sold at auction. André Garitte, an art collector and a fan of Belgian Surrealism, began in the following years to acquire property from the Magrittes. He eventually bought the building at 135, rue Esseghem, which still belonged to the family of Magritte's former landlords. Starting in 1993, he restored the house, and in 1999, celebrating Magritte's 100th anniversary, the museum was open to the public.André Garitte, ''Musée René Magritte (1999-2009) : 10 ans'' (in French), Brussels, Musée René Magritte - Pandora, 2009 In 2009, the museum reopened after an extensive restoration.

Description

Magritte's former apartment is located on the ground floor of the brick

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

, typical of the Brussels region. The house does not have any particular architectural features. The artist drew inspiration for his work from his daily surroundings, and several objects from the apartment are found in his paintings. These include the fireplace and glass doors to the living room, the staircase, as well as details such as the door handles. The lamppost in front of the house also appears several times in Magritte's works. André Garitte managed to find back around 70% of Magritte's furniture. Georgette's Gunther piano, and the

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

furniture that Magritte designed for his wife as a wedding gift are on display at the museum. The apartment has been reconstructed identically using testimonies and photographic archives. Thus, the solid colour of the walls is authentic. Magritte used to paint in the dining room. In 1932, he had a workshop built at the bottom of the garden, but he did not like it for painting and used it mainly for his food work as an advertiser.

Exhibition

In addition to the ground floor apartment, the museum has two exhibition floors. Among the items on display are illustrated letters, surrealist brochures or newspaper articles. In addition, the collection presents 30 drawings,

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

s and paintings by Magritte. These include works such as ''Aladdin's Lamp'' and ''Lola of Valence''. The painting ''Olympia'', which forms part of the museum's collection, was stolen on 24 September 2009 during a hold-up. It was returned but is no longer on display. One room of the museum is dedicated to other Belgian surrealists. It features works by E.L.T. Mesens, Marcel Mariën,

Paul Delvaux Paul Delvaux (; 23 September 1897 – 20 July 1994) was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, alt ...

Rachel Baes Rachel Baes (1 August 1912 – 8 June 1983) was a Belgian surrealist painter. The growth of the women's movement in the late 20th century led to renewed interest in female artists and brought greater appreciation of their work. In 2002 the Roya ...

Jane Graverol Jane Graverol (1905–1984) was a Belgian surrealist painter of French extraction. Life Jane Graverol was born in Ixelles on 18 December 1905 to Alexandre Graverol and Anne-Marie Lagadec. After a traditional education, she enrolled in the Brussels ...

and

Pierre Sanders Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

Museum of Abstract Art

Since November 2019, the Museum of Abstract Art (; ) has opened next to the René Magritte Museum, at no. 137, and is linked to it. The two museums can be visited together. The museum focuses on Belgian

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

, with a collection of over 750 works, a third of which are on permanent display. The second floor presents the historical

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

of the 1920s, with major figures including Victor Servranckx, Georges Vantongerloo, Jozef Peeters and Pierre-Louis Flouquet. René Magritte originally painted in this style and was close to these artists. The ground floor and third floor showcase the second generation of abstract artists (from the 1950s to the 1980s and beyond), both geometric and lyrical (

Pierre Alechinsky Pierre Alechinsky (; born 19 October 1927) is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to tachisme, abstract expressionism, and lyrical abstraction. Life Alechinsky was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium, to ...

Pol Bury Pol Bury (26 April 1922 – 28 September 2005) was a Belgians, Belgian sculptor who began his artistic career as a painter in the Jeune Peintre Belge and COBRA (avant-garde movement), COBRA groups. Among his most famous works is the fountain-scul ...

Gaston Bertrand Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) * Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

, Jean Rets, Jo Delahaut, etc.).

References

Citations

Bibliography

* André Garitte et al., ''Musée René Magritte (1999-2009) : Dix ans'' (in French), éd. René Magritte Museum/Pandora, 2009 * André Garitte, ''Redécouverte du surréalisme'' (in French), éd. René Magritte Museum/Pandora, 2011 * Louis Scutenaire, ''Avec Magritte'' (in French), Presses universitaires de France, 1977 * Jan Ceuleers, ''René Magritte. 135 Rue Esseghem, Jette-Bruxelles'' (in French), 1999 (ISBN 9789053251102)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rene Magritte Museum Art museums and galleries in Brussels Jette René Magritte Historic house museums in Belgium Magritte Magritte, Rene Art museums and galleries established in 1999 1999 establishments in Belgium