GREATER BRUSSELS 81

Musée des Beaux-

Arts d’Ixelles 2

Rue Jean van Volsem 71, Ixelles,
1050 BRU. Road Map B4. Tel (02)

5156422. @ 34, 54, 64, 71, 80.
         Q Porte de Namur. v 24, 25, 81.

         11:30am–5pm Tue–Sun. 7 =

         
         

         http://www.museedixelles.be

         
         

The commune of Ixelles
possesses a remarkably rich
art collection, presented in
this small but highly reward-
ing gallery. It contains
intrig uing but little-known
work by painters such as
Rembrandt, Fragonard and
Picasso and original posters
by Toulouse-Lautrec. There is
a good variety of work by the
Belgian Symbolists Léon
Frédéric and Léon Spilliaert.
Other Belgian artists such as
Magritte and Rik Wouters are
represented with such pieces
as a copy of the latter’s
exuberant bronze sculp ture
La Vierge Folle (The Mad
Virgin). The museum is also
noted for temporary exhibits.

Musée Constantin

Meunier 3

Rue de l’Abbaye 59, Ixelles, 1050
BRU. Road Map B4. Tel (02)

6484449. @ 38, 60. v 23, 93, 94.

         10am–noon and 1–5pm Tue–Fri.

         
         

         = http://www.fine-arts-museum.be

         
         

Brussels-born Constantin
Meunier (1831–1905) was
an artist of great distinction,
a realist who painted gritty
industrial scenes in keeping

with his socialist sympathies.

He is best known for bronze

sculptures of factory workers,

such as the puddleurs (forge-

workers). These were largely

inspired by his visits to indus-

trial regions around Liège

(see pp216–19) and Charleroi

(see p187) in the 1870s and

1880s. The figures speak

eloquently of that era – bent

by their grim toil and hard-

ships, they nonetheless retain

an air of indom itable dignity.

This museum, a branch

of the Musées Royaux des

Beaux-Arts (see pp68–73),

is located in Meunier’s

former home and studio,

built in 1899, where Meunier

lived and worked for the last

five years of his life. In

addition to the sculptures for

which he is famous, the

museum also has a good

cross section of his paintings

and documents, as well as

informative exhibits that

demon strate some of his

working techniques.

Charmingly geometric Art Deco style at Musée David et Alice van Buuren

Wouters’s La Vierge Folle in the
Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Ixelles

Musée David et

Alice van Buuren 4

Avenue Léo Errera 41, Uccle, 1180

BRU. Road Map B4. Tel (02)

3434851. @ 60, 134. v 23, 90.

         2–5:30pm Wed–Mon. & =

         
         

         http://www.museumvanbuuren.com

         
         

Set in the prosperous, leafy

suburb of Uccle, this museum

delights on two levels. First,

it is a comfortable, relaxed

villa, originally built and fur-

nished in the late 1920s in a

user-friendly Art Deco style

for the Dutch banker David

van Buuren and his wife.

Second, since the van Buurens

used their fortune to invest in

their pas sion for art, the house

contains an out standing

private collection of artwork.

The art on display includes

a priceless ver sion of The Fall

of Icarus by Pieter Brueghel

the Elder, as well as paintings

and sculptures by Vincent van

Gogh, James Ensor and Rik

Wouters. Artists from the St-

Martens-Latem School of Art

(see p136), such as Constant

Permeke and Gustave van

de Woestyne, are also well

rep resented in the collection.

The van Buurens’s quest

for harmonious surroundings

extended to the beautiful

series of gardens outside,

which were carefully

designed according to Art

Deco princ iples of stylistic

geometry by the noted

land scape architects, René

Pechère and Jules Buyssens.

The iconic Blacksmith sculpture on

view at Meunier’s former home