From 21 February 2024, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) will be exhibiting a new touring show entitled “Imagine!”. Conceived alongside the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Surrealism.
In the prestigious setting of Brussels’ Royal Quarter, Imagine! invites visitors to immerse themselves in this 20th century art movement as well as in the world of dreams, the unknown and the subconscious through works by huge names such Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Joan Miró, Dorothea Manning and Man Ray.
From Symbolism to Surrealism
Each incarnation of the exhibition during Surrealism’s centenary year (it will go on to show in Hamburg’s Kunsthalle, the the Fundación Mapfré in Madrid and the Philadelphia Museum of Art) will bring its own pieces of the puzzle. In Brussels that means a special focus on the symbiotic relationship between Symbolism and Surrealism.
From 1880 onwards, the museum points out, “Brussels was an exceptional hub for the arts and the avant-garde.” These artists, as their name suggests, were ahead of their time and “largely anticipated the emergence of the surrealist movement. A few decades later, Brussels became a centre for Belgian surrealism. Despite the cultural rupture caused by World War I, the older symbolists and the emerging youth were never fundamentally alienated from each other.”
An appropriate year for the spotlight
Featuring over 130 works of art from paintings and works on paper, to sculptures, objects, assemblages and photographs, the exhibition is a showcase for “the importance of this movement for Belgium and its significance in a European context,” the museum has explained. Noting that Belgium is preparing to preside over the Council of the EU in 2024, the museum said it “seems an appropriate year to put Surrealism in the spotlight.”
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium is a group of six museums comprising the Oldmasters Museum, the Magritte Museum, the Fin-de-Siècle Museum, the Modern Museum, the Antoine Wiertz Museum and the Constantin Meunier Museum and hosting nearly 20,000 artworks between them.
It is the most popular art institution in Belgium and its numbers rocketed after 2008’s opening of the Magritte Museum in the heart of Brussels’ Royal Quarter, demonstrating the enduring worldwide popularity of the Surrealist movement.
A ticket for standard adult entry is 18 euro. Reductions are available with proof of eligibility. Opening times are: Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and weekends from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Histoire de ne pas rire. Surrealism in Belgium
Alongside the Imagine! exhibition, also from 21 February 2024, the beautiful Bozar Museum nearby will be showing Histoire de ne pas rire (Trying not to laugh), delving into Belgian Surrealism’s more political side through the artists who wanted “to transform the world with their subversive art.”. The scene’s international interactions, political-historical background, and important women artists will all be part of the curation.
Time slots must be chosen to visit the show. Bozar is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and closed on Mondays. Standard entry is 18 euros. Note that joint tickets and offers are available.
