Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

Collections and highlights

The museums are organized into several complementary sections that allow visitors to move through periods and styles.

• Oldmasters Museum – paintings and drawings by Flemish and Northern European masters, including major works by Peter Paul Rubens and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
• Fin-de-Siècle Museum – late 19th‑century Belgian art, Symbolism and Art Nouveau, featuring artists such as James Ensor and Fernand Khnopff.
• Modern and Contemporary collections – 20th‑century art with paintings, sculpture and graphic art that trace Belgian and international developments.
• Magritte Museum – a concentrated presentation of René Magritte’s paintings, drawings and archive material that offers an exceptional overview of the Surrealist master.

History and buildings

The museums grew from royal and public collections assembled from the 19th century onward and have been displayed in architecturally significant nineteenth‑ and twentieth‑century buildings in Brussels. Exhibition spaces combine grand historic rooms for large canvases with specialized houses and galleries that suit intimate works and thematic displays.

Importance and notable works

The Royal Museums are important for the depth of the Flemish and Belgian holdings and for presenting art in historical context. Visitors encounter masterpieces and representative works by:

• Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck
• Pieter Bruegel the Elder
• René Magritte and other Surrealists
• Key Belgian modernists such as James Ensor and Paul Delvaux

Visiting and research

The complex offers rotating temporary exhibitions, educational programs and research resources for scholars and the general public. Practical visitor information, current exhibitions and tickets are published on the institution’s official website. The layout encourages combining different museums in a single visit to appreciate continuities and contrasts across centuries of European art.