Week-end in Brussels
We were in between house guests so we decided it would be a good time for a week-end trip. We didn’t want to spend a lot of travel time and we wanted to continue practicing our French so Belgium was our place. The first thing I did was reserve tickets for the Royal Museums of Fine Arts. It’s actually a collection of 6 museums institutions: The Old Masters, The Magritte Museum, Fin-de-Siecle Museum, the Modern Museum, Meunier Museum and Wiertz Museum.
We arrived on a Friday afternoon and headed straight to see the Old Masters.
The art work is from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
In the Spring of 2021, I took several art history classes from Susan Brangers through the Gage Academy of Art. The first course was titled The Symbolism of Everyday Objects, Bosch to Vermeer, another was Out of the Shadows of Men - Rediscovering Women Artist of the Past and lastly A Study of Extremes: Hellenistic Sculpture and Its Influence. The really great thing about art is you can go on learning new things forever! There is so much history to study and now with everyone offering on line classes, it’s a bonanza!
I will throw out a few names that we discussed in the Symbolism class - Hieronymus Bosch, Hans Memling, Bruegel, Jan Mostaert, Rembrandt, Rubens, Jacques Louis David - I could go on and on… As I was walking in the museum and came across paintings that we had studied, I just got so excited! To see these masterpieces in the flesh was awesome.
Three of the museums are in connecting buildings - the museum website was super confusing. It was frustrating because I had to buy an additional ticket to go to the Magritte Museum. Luckily there were not many people waiting on line. Initially, I didn’t think I was really interested in seeing the Magritte works. The very little I knew of Rene Magritte’s art seemed too “poster like”, more advertising than fine art. I’m so glad I took the time to learn more about this man. Born in 1898, he lost his mother in 1912 to suicide. Drawing became an important part of his childhood and led him to become an artist. He married Georgette Berger in 1922 and she would serve as a model throughout Magritte’s career. Magritte studied at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts and later became interested in modernism and the work of the Futurists. In 1926 Magritte was involved in forming the Belgian Surrealist group.
The lighting in the museum was awful for photographing the artwork. The second painting above is titled “The Empire of Lights” and is my favorite.
Three hours later, I found I still had some energy so I found my way to the Fin-de-Siecle Museum. The usual suspects were there but a few that I found interesting were: Jean Baptiste Degreef (View of Brussels), Bonnard (Nude Against the Light), and lastly a large portrait of the board of director’s of the Acadamie. All men.tsk,tsk,tsk
Brussels is a city with character. We stayed in a section called Saint Gilles. Walking around the neighborhood made me feel as if I was in Brooklyn - there were great row house apartments, fantastic restaurants and boutiques. In both the downtown and nearby sections I found a lot of graffiti. I can see one of these photographs becoming a cool painting.
Something that struck me was the prevalence of women wearing head scarves. I did a quick internet search and learned 13% of the population in Belgium are Muslim. Islam is the second largest religion in the country after Christianity. I then learned that France actually has the largest Muslim population in Europe. Perhaps the debate over whether women are allowed to wear the hijab in France is why I don’t notice the community as easily in France. I don’t know but I thought it was interesting. By the way, I also think it’s ridiculous to forbid anyone from wearing a harmless head covering. In the US we allow women to wear what they want but we don’t give them control over their own bodies - both are extremely disturbing and stupid.
Comic strip characters can be found everywhere in Brussels. Tintin, the Smurfs and Spirou were all created here. Young and old in both Belgium and France adore these comic strips today. I also saw a lot of solidarity for Ukraine. Blue and yellow flags were flying high from balconies and store fronts throughout. We missed it but apparently there was a huge gay pride parade in the city center - rainbow flags were a welcome sight as well. Enjoy these last pics of Brussels.
