Magritte Museum: 7 years of international influence

7 years ago, in June 2009, the Magritte Museum opened its doors to the public. Today, over 2 million visitors have contemplated and continue to admire the largest art collection of Magritte in the world. The Museum has contributed to 19 international exhibitions, including in New York, Tokyo and soon also Paris and Frankfurt. New lenders, increasingly attracted by the influence of the Museum, entrust their precious Magrittes to the institution (over 31 new works in 1 year!). Unpublished projects are also planned with the fiftieth anniversary of the artist’s death in sight in 2017.

Since several years, major international museums rely on the expertise of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium to organize exhibitions devoted to the artist and his work. With the unwavering support of the Magritte Foundation, our institution has collaborated with 19 major international exhibitions in recent years. After major exhibitions at MoMA New York, the Menil Collection in Houston and the Art Institute of Chicago, the Magritte Museum has played a vital role in the largest retrospective ever dedicated to Magritte, in the National Art Centre of Tokyo and the Municipal Museum of Art in Kyoto. This exhibition in Japan experienced an attendance record of 533,354 visitors. In the following months, the Magritte Museum will collaborate in the following exhibitions:

• Centre Pompidou, Paris: “The Treachery of Images” 21.09.2016 > 23.01.2017

• Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt: “The Treachery of Images” 10.02.2017 > 05.06.2017 

Rene Magritte, The masterpiece or the mysteries of the horizon (1955)

2017 will be the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Magritte. Many projects are under construction, including an exhibit demonstrating the continued strong presence of René Magritte in contemporary creation. His influence and his legacy are for instance found in Gavin Turk, George Condo, Sean Landers, Raymond Pettibon, Robert Longo, ...