Brussels 1900

In the autumn of 1900, visitors to the World Fair, held in the newly inaugurated Grand Palais in Paris, discovered as part of the exhibition devoted to foreign nations, a Belgian section that sparked unanimous enthusiasm. Featuring almost one hundred-and-fifty paintings and sculptures from Belgium, it proved to be a veritable revelation. Such recognition and admiration from Parisian audiences cemented Brussels’ status as a major European arts hub in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The exhibition captures this extraordinary cultural effervescence through over two hundred-and-fifty works, including paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, posters, jewellery, photographs, architectural designs, and the graphic arts. Organized in partnership with the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts (Royal Museums of Fine Arts), Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire (Royal Museums of Art and History), and the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (Royal Library of Belgium), it brings together a number of exceptional loans from all three institutions.

CURATORS :

• Géraldine David, General Director of the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire
• Sara Lammens, General Director of the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (KBR)
• Annick Lemoine, President of the Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, former director of the Petit Palais
• Kim Oosterlinck, General Director of the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique

SPECIALIZED CURATORS  :

• Anne-Charlotte Cathelineau, Chief Heritage Curator of the Sculpture Department, Petit Palais
• Davy Depelchin, Head Curator of the 19th-century Paintings and Sculptures Department at the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique
• Benjamin Foudral, Director of the Musée Gustave Courbet d’Ornans