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Brussels has always had a fine collection of museums but now it has the most exciting opening in a long time - a new museum dedicated to famous Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. So don your bowler hat, pipe and umbrella - and maybe a fish - and set off.

 

Rene Magritte - From Young and Confused to World Famous Surrealist

The building itself is an elegantly revamped wing of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Brussels in the museum district, so it’s easy to find and a 10-minute walk from the Magritte-themed Hotel Amigo - of which more later. Previously the Magritte collection was housed in just one room of the Fine Arts museum, but since 2nd June 2009, 250 works are now displayed in a completely renovated building which boasts a brand new ticket hall, shop and cafe, plus the three floors of Magritte’s long journey from young, confused artist to one of the world’s most famous surrealists. We are so familiar now with his iconic images - the bowler-hatted men raining down on a town, the apples, the horse-bells, the perfect blue skies, the pipe - it’s fascinating to see his earlier work when he was finding his feet.

 

The museum features clouds projected out of its windows - almost unnoticeable during the day, alarming by night - and a dark interior laid out over three floors and, appropriately enough for a surrealist, beginning on the third floor. A word of caution though here - the really famous Magritte images - the Daring Sleeper, The Central Story, The Lovers, This Is Not A Pipe - are still in their various museums in America and Paris. This is a more personal collection, but still features dozens of recognisable images plus some really wonderful designs, photographs, letters and film clips - some 250 pieces in all.

 

Don't miss Mike's brilliant review of the Herge Museum, homage to the creator of Tintin.

 

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The key to understanding Magritte, as a weekend in Brussels will unravel, is not to think of him as a painter, but instead a cross between a graphic artist and an ideas man. His paintings have little in terms of depth – he was not interested in painting as such - but they are visual ideas or conundrums in the surrealist tradition. This becomes apparent as you walk around Floor 3. After a flirtation with futurism and constructivism – both impressive – you find his designs for cigarette adverts and posters. These are all about maximum effect from simple images, something he became brilliant at. There is also a lovely sketch of Georgette, his wife.

 

Magritte's Moment of Clarity

Then in 1923 Magritte saw his first painting by de Chirico, and the effect was profound. His Man From The Sea (1927) has the same empty landscape and eerie feeling, and from here on he became a fully fledged surrealist, combining everyday objects in strange juxtapositions. The museum then takes you through a strange journey with Magritte ultimately thrown out of the surrealist movement because of Georgette’s religious beliefs. Of course, being a surrealist at heart, sex is never far from his mind – his Black Magic (1945) is a nude of Georgette in which her naked body becomes Magritte blue halfway up. The museum ends with one of his most famous images The Empire Of Lights (1954), a house apparently in darkness but actually featuring daylight.

 

Solving the Magritte Puzzle

Magritte’s work is a kind of puzzle, and Brussels can offer more clues with a visit to Magritte’s House in the suburb of Jette. From the Magritte Museum simply hop on a 94 tram. Here, in 135 Rue Esseghemstraat, 1095 Brussels (+32 02 428 26 26), you can see the house where Magritte lived and painted for 24 years from 1930 after returning from Paris.

 

 

 

It’s instructive, as it shows how grindingly ordinary Magritte’s life was – it’s a world of lower middle class bowler hats and teas in front of the fire, but look closely. The front room is painted that particular blue, the bedroom has the fireplace that features in so many pictures, particularly La Reproduction Interdite, and the small parlour has Magritte’s one work of art on display – a photo by Man Ray. Upstairs there are some lovely personal belongings, plus a couple of rarities – pornographic sketches. Georgette destroyed most of them through embarrassment, but two survive, and they are pretty explicit. Other artefacts to end up on the fire were letters to Magritte from Andre Breton and Max Ernst, huge figures from the Surrealist movement.

 

To get more of a picture of Magritte’s daily life you can visit two cafes in Brussels. Rue des Alexiens has La Feuille en Papier Dore, a den covered in Magritte aphorisms, and you can cheer yourself up with 25% off a beer with your Brussels card. The Greenwich Cafe in rue des Chartreux is where Magritte played chess - badly. One punter, constantly taking Magritte’s money, was asked why he didn’t take a picture as payment. The answer was: “If he paints like he plays chess I would rather have his cash.”

 

Magritte's Early Years

For more clues about Magritte a visit to Chatelet, 60km from Brussels, is where he lived during his early years, 1904-17. At 95 Rue de Gravelles you can see the house Magritte’s father built, a lovely art nouveau building. Here there are some fine examples of Magritte’s early graphic design, and his first stabs at film posters. Cinema was a huge influence on the young man, his local, long since demolished sadly, was almost opposite his front door. His film posters show his skill at eye-grabbing images and text. Just down the road is another clue, the grim alleyway where his mother committed suicide in 1912. Legend has it the teenage boy saw his mother’s corpse on the slab, her body naked but her face covered with cloth. This image does appear in many of his paintings – he retained his mystery about it, true to form. This is also where he had his first drawing lessons, and discovered girls.

 

 

Also out in the suburbs, in nearby Charleroi, is another piece of the Magritte jigsaw, a 1957 fresco in the beautiful Palais des Beaux Arts. It contains all of the images that Magritte was obsessed by – a concrete fish, two black-suited, bowler-hatted men, a horse bell, trees made from giant leaves. Nearby is the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, which houses La Liberte de E’esprit (1948).

 

Stay at the Magritte-Themed Hotel Amigo
If you’re planning a Magritte-themed visit to Brussels, the Hotel Amigo has packages including tickets to the museum, a catalogue and even Magritte-themed dinner where the food looks like his paintings – great fun. It’s a lovely hotel with reproductions of Magritte paintings on the walls.

 

Just around the corner is Brasserie Roue d’Or, a classic moules-et-frites bar with Magritte-style decor on the walls. As you leave Brussels for London on the Eurostar the landscape may look repetitive and bland, but after a weekend of Magritte your mind will imagine bowler-hatted men raining down and giant apples floating in the sky. You may not solve the mystery of Magritte but your mind will never be the same again.

Fact Box

Musée Magritte Museum is open daily (expect Mondays), 10am-5pm, with late opening until 8pm on Wednesdays. Entrance will be €8, €5 seniors and €2 students. Under 18s, Friends of the Museum and disabled get in free.

Eurostar operates up to 10 daily services from London St Pancras International to Brussels with return fares from £59. All Eurostar tickets to Brussels are valid to/from any Belgian station at no extra cost. Tickets are available from eurostar.com or 08705 186 186. Fastest London-Brussels journey time is 1h 51 minutes.

 

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