Page 76 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

74  bel gium and l uxembourg region b y region

Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts: Musée
Magritte and Musée Fin de Siècle Level 4

The musée magritte gives unprecedented insight into the life and
works of one of belgium’s most celebrated painters, rené magritte,
a major exponent of Surrealism. Stretching over five floors, the
museum occupies a refurbished neo-Classical building on the
Place royale. next to it is the musée Fin de Siècle, laid out in the
1980s over three storeys and six spiralling levels, all ingeniously
sunk into the ground to avoid obscuring the 18th-century Place
du musée. This museum showcases european and international
art from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th
century. a d-shaped lightwell allows visitors to view the exhibits
by natural light, in spite of the building’s location underground.
Level 3
Level 2

Level 1

Portrait of Baron Francis Delbeke (1917)
Antwerp-born Jules Schmalzigaug (1882–1917) was one of
the most original and gifted artists of his generation. He was
involved in the Italian Futurist movement in Rome between Level -1
1912 and 1914, and his work became increasingly abstract.
He moved to the neutral Netherlands at the advent of World
War I, where, depressed, he took his own life at the age of 35.
To Musée Old
Masters

To Musée Fin de Siècle

Level -2

. The Domain of Arnheim (1962)
Magritte’s painting of an eagle-mountain
rearing over a small bird’s nest, precariously
perched on a wall, is an unsettling image
that teases the viewer for an explanation.
The title is from a short story by Edgar
Allan Poe (1809–49).
For hotels and restaurants see p266 and pp280–83

074-075_EW_Belgium.indd 74 16/10/14 3:35 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 24th April 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm