Exhibitions | Brafa Art Fair

BRUSSEL

CROSSING

Atomium
Place de l'Atomium 1
1020 Brussels

06.02.2025 > 23.02.2026

CROSSING

Built for the World’s Fair in 1958, the Atomium is much more than a monument: it is a unique experience. With its spectacular silhouette representing an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times, it has become the symbol of Brussels and Belgium. The Atomium offers visitors the most beautiful panoramic view of Brussels, whilst hosting a variety of exhibitions. More than half of the tour is devoted to installations with themes revolving around the digital arts. Currently, visitors are invited to discover CROSSING - a digital and symphonic work combining art and technology. The installation ventures beyond the sphere, into the staircase and escalator leading up to it. A must-visit visual and sound journey inside the Atomium! The Atomium ticket automatically includes entry to the Design Museum Brussels, 150 m away.

06.02.2025 > 23.02.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial Illusion Exposed

AfricaMuseum
Leuvensesteenweg 13
3080 Tervuren

28.11.2025 > 27.09.2026

The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial Illusion Exposed

The new exhibition at the AfricaMuseum is a reflection on colonial propaganda. Original witness accounts from the past and the present, together with surprising collections and photographs, give context to the Congo Panorama, an immense pro-colony painting presented at the 1913 World’s Fair in Ghent. It glorified Belgian achievements in the Congo and depicted the young Belgian colony as an idyll - fake news avant la lettre.

28.11.2025 > 27.09.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

Two new galleries devoted to nineteenth-century decorative arts

Art & History Museum - Belgian Art Nouveau and Art Deco gallery © Be Culture

Art & History Museum
Parc du Cinquantenaire 10
1000 Brussels

02.09.2025 >

Two new galleries devoted to nineteenth-century decorative arts

The Art & History Museum in Brussels has unveiled two new spectacular galleries showcasing nineteenth-century decorative arts and Belgian Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The first gallery highlights Belgium’s pioneering Art Nouveau movement, featuring exceptional works by key figures such as Victor Horta, whose reconstructed Cousin House winter garden, supported by numerous patrons including BRAFA, stands as the centrepiece. While France led the Art Deco movement in the 1920s and 1930s, Belgium became known for its exceptional craftsmanship and design, represented here by prominent artists and firms. The second gallery explores societal changes reflected in the decorative arts, including the art of dining, leisure, fashion, and communication, offering a comprehensive view of the artistic and cultural landscape of the period.

02.09.2025 >

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BRUSSEL

ART POPS

Belfius Tower
Place Charles Rogier 11
1210 Brussels

18.10.2024 > 13.12.2025

ART POPS

Step into Art Pops, an immersive art experience brought to visitors by the Belfius Art Collection, in which their senses become the brushstrokes of creativity. This unique exhibition invites visitors to explore art beyond sight, engaging the senses of touch, sound, and even smell in order to awaken a deeper connection with each piece. It’s a great way to dive into vibrant installations that pop with colour and vibrate with energy, and to feel the textures of artistic expression. Art Pops is more than an exhibition, it’s a sensory journey that redefines how we perceive and interact with art.

18.10.2024 > 13.12.2025

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BRUSSEL

Echoes of Art Deco

Boghossian Foundation - Villa Empain
Avenue Franklin Roosvelt 67
1050 Brussels

15.11.2024 > 02.11.2025

Echoes of Art Deco

In the context of the centenary commemoration of Art Deco in 2025, the Boghossian Foundation is presenting a thematic exhibition on this key movement in Brussels. The term Art Deco refers to the Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in Paris in 1925, which provided a unique opportunity for architects and the public to immerse themselves in this fresh, innovative spirit. Echoes of Art Deco invites visitors to explore the iconic architecture of the Villa Empain, a paragon of Art Deco with an eventful past. Set against the lively musical backdrop of the era, the exhibition offers an immersive experience in the lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties. The Art Deco movement encompassed both architecture and the decorative arts. Furniture takes centre stage in a scenography that recreates the intimate atmosphere of a private residence. Drawings, ceramics, woodwork and ironwork transport visitors to a time oriented towards modernity, technical progress, and the forthcoming society of leisure. Stained glass, an exemplary marker ofstylistic evolution, is showcased by an exceptional collection of 25 original pieces, alongside the complete preparatory drawings for Anto Carte’s La Gioconda, which was exhibited at the 1925 International Exhibition in Paris

15.11.2024 > 02.11.2025

event website

BRUSSEL

Fire

Jiana Kim, Red inside Red 25-33, 2025

Boghossian Foundation - Villa Empain
Avenue Franklin Roosvelt 67
1050 Brussels

25.09.2025 > 01.03.2026

Fire

This exhibition brings together modern and contemporary artists to explore the many dimensions of fire. Through diverse media, the artworks reflect the symbolic, physical, and emotional power of fire, ranging from flames and smoke to candles and electricity. Fire is a universal force present in myths, rituals, and celebrations across cultures and eras. Its dual nature - life-giving and destructive - inspires both awe and fear. The artists interpret fire as warmth and healing, but also as chaos and danger. It is a metaphor for passion, desire, rebellion, and rebirth, echoing the complexity of human emotions. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the enduring presence of fire in nature, homes, and memories.

25.09.2025 > 01.03.2026

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BRUSSEL

John Baldessari. Parables, Fables, and Other Tall Tales

John Baldessari, The Duress Series: Person Holding on to Pole Attached to Exterior of Tall Building

BOZAR - Centre for Fine Arts
Rue Ravenstein 23
1000 Brussels

19.09.2025 > 01.02.2026

John Baldessari. Parables, Fables, and Other Tall Tales

John Baldessari (California, 1931-2020) was a contemporary art pioneer who turned artistic conventions upside down. Baldessari wittily combined text, photography, and painting to challenge the traditional boundaries of art. He was a master of appropriation and collage, drawing on popular culture - frequently from films, television, press clippings, and other appropriated images - to create a new irreverent, playful visual language. Bozar presents the first major European exhibition devoted to his work. The exhibition features over 60 works, many of them monumental. Photographs, paintings, installations, videos and wallpaper will be on display, some for the very first time in Europe.

19.09.2025 > 01.02.2026

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BRUSSEL

Bare! First Prizes from the Brussels Academy

Célestin François, La leçon de peinture d'après modèle vivant à l'Académie dans l'Hôtel de Ville de Bruxelles, 1821 © Brussels City Museum

Brussels City Museum - The King’s House
Grand-Place
1000 Brussels

21.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

Bare! First Prizes from the Brussels Academy

This selection of prize-winning academic drawings from 1841 to 1885 showcases the technical excellence demanded by the Brussels Academy. These male nude studies, reflecting strict academic training at a time when women were excluded as models, enter into dialogue with later works by laureates. A perspective on learning, artistic development, and knowledge transmission.

21.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

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BRUSSEL

Michel Couturier - la friche la galaxie

Michel Couturier, L’enlèvement de Proserpine, 2018, video-stil

CENTRALE for contemporary art
Place Sainte-Catherine 44
1000 Brussels

09.10.2025 > 22.02.2026

Michel Couturier - la friche la galaxie

At a time when new policies are focusing on cities and suburban areas, Michel Couturier’s images appear both surprising and familiar. They feature the elements that populate modern urban landscapes: road signs, motorway lights, surveillance cameras, and cranes slicing through the sky. We discover in them the poetry of improbable spaces - their fragmented architecture, their horizons crisscrossed by flocks of birds. Through his videos and drawings, Michel Couturier’s exhibition at Centrale celebrates the poetry that lies before our eyes - if only we would take the time to look.

09.10.2025 > 22.02.2026

BRUSSEL

(Not) All Is Gold

Cloud Seven
Quai du Commerce 7
1000 Brussels

04.09.2025 > 28.02.2026

(Not) All Is Gold

(Not) All Is Gold investigates the notion of value in art at both the direct, intrinsic level and at the metaphorical one. Alongside works that embrace or subvert the material richness or modesty of their medium, others subtly comment on the economy of the art world and, more specifically, on the status of artists and their survival strategies. A special focus is also placed on works that integrate transactional mechanisms into their own creative processes. Featuring works by Works from Frédéric de Goldschmidt’s collection and from invited artists: Ignasi Aballí, Jacques André, Elena Bajo, Béatrice Balcou, Eva Barto, Thomas Bernardet, Alighiero Boetti, Kasper Bosmans, Aline Bouvy, Jérémie Boyard, Emilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Marc Buchy, Carlos Bunga, Julian Charrière, Magnus Frederik Clausen, Vaast Colson, David de Tscharner, Daniel Dezeuze, Nico Dockx, Laurent Dupont, Teresa Estapé, Cristina Garrido, Filip Gilissen, Valérian Goalec, Fernanda Gomes, Ferenc Gróf, Wade Guyton, Jan Henderikse, Ana Jotta, Ermias Kifleyesus, Gabriel Kuri, Pierre Leguillon, Tom Lowe, Karine Marenne, Céline Mathieu, Diego Miguel Mirabella, Jonathan Monk, Giovanni Morbin, Sophie Nys, Puppies Puppies, Kurt Ryslavy, Matthieu Saladin, Ilona Stutz, Egon Van Herreweghe, Chaïm Van Luit, Laurence Vauthier, Pieter Vermeersch, Oriol Vilanova, Andy Warhol, Elsa Werth.

04.09.2025 > 28.02.2026

BRUSSEL

Design and Comics: Living in a Box

Superstudio, Passiflora, 1966 © Design Museum Brussels

Design Museum Brussels
Place de Belgique 1
1020 Brussels

18.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

Design and Comics: Living in a Box

Through the collection of the Vitra Design Museum, this exhibition explores design and its relationship to the world of comics. To create a visual narrative that can be universally understood, comic artists have developed codes to convey information, one of which is the placement of design objects. In Brussels, the exhibition will pay particular attention to design in Belgian comics, and more specifically to the Atom style and Franquin’s characteristic Belgian playful modernism.

18.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

New Presentation of the Lace Room

Fashion & Lace Museum
Rue de la Violette 12
1000 Brussels

12.11.2025 > 21.09.2027

New Presentation of the Lace Room

In order to best preserve its lace collections, the museum rotates its pieces every two years. This rotation serves both to protect the oldest and most fragile works, and to offer visitors the chance to discover remarkable examples of lace. The museum is also showcasing its recent acquisitions, including an exceptional large Point de Gaze needle lace shawl, purchased in collaboration with the King Baudouin Foundation. Extremely rare in shape, this highly delicate piece - likely created for a World’s Fair or a special commission - is the first of its kind to join the museum’s collections.

12.11.2025 > 21.09.2027

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BRUSSEL

Art & Language, Sixty Years and Going On

Art & Language - Mullier Mullier Gallery

Fondation CAB Brussels
Rue Borrens 34-36
1050 Brussels

12.11.2025 > 28.04.2026

Art & Language, Sixty Years and Going On

This exhibition is devoted to Art & Language, a major artistic group founded in the 1960s which was at the forefront of reflection on the links between art, language and critical thinking. Conceived as a veritable retrospective, this exhibition looks back over the collective's entire career, through a variety of formats: textual installations, archival documents, visual works and emblematic conceptual devices. It offers an insight into a body of work that is as rigorous as it is radical, which continues to question the ways in which contemporary art is produced and received.

12.11.2025 > 28.04.2026

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BRUSSEL

Oriol Vilanova. The Archive on Display

Fondation Walter & Nicole Leblanc
Chaussée de Gand 1118
1082 Brussels

20.01.2026 > 29.05.2026

Oriol Vilanova. The Archive on Display

The Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation presents a solo exhibition by Oriol Vilanova (Spain, Manresa 1980), which he developed during his residency at the Foundation in the autumn of 2025. Based in Brussels, Vilanova explores systems of collection and display through a conceptual practice centred on vintage postcards and overlooked cultural artefacts. Engaging with the Foundation’s archive and collection, the artist has created new work that reflects on the circulation of images, memory, and the exhibition as form. This exhibition, which is part of Europalia España, is an extension of the Foundation’s curatorial approach of activating Walter Leblanc’s legacy through contemporary artistic perspectives and precedes Vilanova’s participation in the Spanish Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale.

20.01.2026 > 29.05.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

Echoes of dreams. Symbolism in Brussels

Jean Delville (1867-1953), l’Ecole de Platon, 1905, 54×98 cm, lithographie, Collection Atelier Symboliste © Vincent Everarts

Maison Hannon (Art Nouveau masterpiece)
Avenue de la Jonction 1
1060 Brussels

29.08.2025 > 19.04.2026

Echoes of dreams. Symbolism in Brussels

Set in a magnificient Brussels Art Nouveau residence, the exhibition Echoes of dreams focuses on Belgian Symbolism, bringing together fin-de-siècle works and ideas . It explores the ways in which Symbolism engaged with aesthetic, philosophical, social, and spiritual concerns. The perspective is shaped by the tastes of the house’s original patrons, who were deeply attuned to the cultural innovations of their time. The exhibition features artists such as Delville, Khnopff, Fabry, and Rousseau.

29.08.2025 > 19.04.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

New immersive experience of the KBR Museum’s permanent exhibition

Royal Library of Belgium – KBR Museum
Monts des Arts 28
1000 Brussels

23.05.2025 >

New immersive experience of the KBR Museum’s permanent exhibition

For over 600 years, a priceless cultural treasure has been preserved in Brussels: the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy, one of Europe’s most important collections of illuminated manuscripts. These rare books offer a glimpse into the artistic, religious, and political life of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. Visitors can explore the powerful world of the Dukes of Burgundy, who were visionary rulers and passionate patrons of the arts. As well as manuscripts, the exhibition includes prints, engravings, paintings, and sculptures. A new immersive musical experience brings the period's polyphonic music to life, enhancing the visit. This is a wonderful opportunity to wander through a Golden Age and discover a major hidden cultural gem.

23.05.2025 >

event website

BRUSSEL

Georges Meurant meets Bonolo Kavula

Lower left: Georges Meurant - Upper right: Bonolo Kavula

Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium
Rue de la Régence 3
1000 Brussels

07.10.2025 > 08.03.2026

Georges Meurant meets Bonolo Kavula

In a new permanent modern and contemporary art room - where displays change twice a year - the RMFAB present their first exhibition devoted to the Belgian painter Georges Meurant (1948-2023) alongside the South African artist Bonolo Kavula (b. 1992). Georges Meurant, a great connoisseur of Kasai embroidery, developed a pictorial practice inspired by its motifs, without ever copying them. Bonolo Kavula’s works at the intersection of embroidery, sculpture and installation, resonate with Meurant’s practice and with textile art more broadly. Her vibrant yet subdued compositions, both minimal and complex, rely on repetition and seriality. This encounter invites a reflection on the relationship between traditional African art and the work of a Western painter, challenging notions of cultural appropriation through a thoughtful dialogue.

07.10.2025 > 08.03.2026

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BRUSSEL

1925: Fashion in the Age of Art Deco

Art, Goût, Beauté, 03 mars 1927

van Buuren Museum & Gardens
Avenue Léo Errera 41
1180 Brussels

07.11.2025 > 02.02.2026

1925: Fashion in the Age of Art Deco

The van Buuren Museum & Gardens has joined forces with the Fashion & Lace Museum to mark the centenary of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. Through four silhouettes from the collections of the Fashion & Lace Museum, enriched with archival material, the exhibition explores the transformations in women’s fashion between 1920 and 1935. From the garçonne style to Hollywood-inspired evening gowns, Art Deco fashion reveals a striking blend of sobriety and glamour, practicality and refinement. Strongly influenced by sportswear, cinema and distant cultures, the fashion of this period reflects the social shifts and aesthetic ideals of the interwar years. Presented within the interiors of the van Buuren House, the silhouettes engage in a visual dialogue with its architecture and furnishings, echoing the decorative language of the time.

07.11.2025 > 02.02.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

Everlyn Nicodemus. Black Bird

Everlyn Nicodemus, Croix D'amour [Cross of Love], 1984

WIELS - Contemporary Art Centre
Avenue Van Volxem 354
1190 Brussels

25.10.2025 > 01.02.2026

Everlyn Nicodemus. Black Bird

Be it through painting, collage, academic writing, curating, or poetry, the work of Everlyn Nicodemus (Tanzania, 1954) is rooted in a longstanding engagement in art as a site for healing, forging counter-narratives, and exercising freedom. Throughout her career, Nicodemus pursued a distinctive and polymorphous practice anchored in postcolonial theory, feminism and trauma studies. This retrospective exhibition showcases her approach that always eschewed conformity and the ‘othering’ frames of expectation shaped by the Western ethnographic gaze. Instead, Nicodemus addresses colour, texture and the form of the human body through a profound involvement with community organising, communion and relationality.

25.10.2025 > 01.02.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

Nairy Baghramian. Nameless

Nairy Baghramian, Side Leaps. Courtesy of the artist

WIELS - Contemporary Art Centre
Avenue Van Volxem 354
1190 Brussels

25.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

Nairy Baghramian. Nameless

Recognised as one of the most influential artists today, Nairy Baghramian (Iran, 1971), presents a new, previously unseen, group of works. Known for her sculptures, spatial organisations, photographs and drawings, Baghramian develops a practice of fearless experimentation marked by historical and conceptual acuity. Drawing from aesthetic realms such as interior design, fashion, dance and theatre, and utilitarian objects such as naval or dentist instruments, Baghramian invokes a wide range of formal references to address all variants of bodies in their vulnerability and obstinacy. Her work invites viewers to reconsider their sense of self, space, matter and place.

25.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

event website

BRUSSEL

Viewing Depot EXH#03 - Year of the snake

Elen Braga © Guy Kokken

Vanhaerents Art Collection (Private art collection)
Rue Anneessens 29
1000 Brussels

24.01.2026 >

Viewing Depot EXH#03 - Year of the snake

The Vanhaerents Art Collection, started in the 1970s by Walter Vanhaerents and expanded by his children Els and Joost, has grown into one of the most influential private collections of contemporary art worldwide. What was once considered bold and radical laid the foundation for a collection that today embodies the diversity and vitality of current artistic practices. The current exhibition, Viewing Depot EXH#03, brings together large-scale works focused on themes such as oppression, the deprivation of freedom, and the loss of individuality. In the project space - where the presentation changes annually - the monumental tapestry Elen or Hubris (2020) by Brazilian artist Elen Braga is being shown to the public for the first time in its entirety.

Open one Saturday per month. During BRAFA, open on Saturday, January 24, 2026, from 10 am to 5 pm

24.01.2026 >

event website

ANTWERPEN

Early Gaze - Unseen Photography from the Nineteenth Century

Fernand Khnopff, Portrait of Marguerite Khnopff, c. 1890, daylight gelatine silver print, Collection FOMU P/1980/249/0001

FoMu - FotoMuseum
Waalsekaai 47
2000 Antwerp

24.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

Early Gaze - Unseen Photography from the Nineteenth Century

For the first time in nearly 40 years, FOMU presents a major exhibition on nineteenth-century Belgian photography. Visitors will discover how this new, magical medium sparked a revolution in society, science and art from the late 1830s onwards. In addition to iconic portraits, landscapes, and architectural photography, the exhibition showcases early photojournalism, scientific, medical, and legal photography, and propaganda images. A rare highlight: many exceptional historical photographs and masterpieces from both Belgian and international collections are brought together, most of which have rarely been shown to the public.

24.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

ANTWERPEN

Magritte. La ligne de vie

KMSKA - Royal Museum of Fine Arts
Leopold de Waelplaats 2
2000 Antwerp

15.11.2025 > 22.02.2026

Magritte. La ligne de vie

In 1938, René Magritte gave a profound lecture at the KMSKA – La ligne de vie – in which he shared his vision of reality, the origins and evolution of his art, and the history of Belgian Surrealism. This speech, his second after London, is considered the most important statement about his work. In this exhibition, Magritte acts as his own curator, presenting works that were central to the lecture; he also appears as a link between Surrealism in Antwerp and Brussels (with figures such as Marcel Mariën and Léo Dohmen). A poetic quote from the lecture illustrates his view: “The Ladder of Fire gave me the privilege… I made fire from a sheet of paper, an egg and a key.” Although he first experimented with abstraction, he ultimately rejected the style: he wanted to paint ideas, not forms.

15.11.2025 > 22.02.2026

event website

ANTWERPEN

Pre-Columbian art. Collection Paul & Dora Janssen-Arts

MAS - Museum Aan de Stroom
Hanzestedeplaats 1
2000 Antwerp

01.09.2024 > 31.12.2026

Pre-Columbian art. Collection Paul & Dora Janssen-Arts

At the highest gallery in the MAS museum, a unique collection tells the story of how people in the Americas connected with gods, ancestors, and spirits before European explorers arrived. This world-famous collection was put together by Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts and includes over 400 pre-Columbian objects made of gold, jade, stone, textiles, and shell. The objects come from more than 50 different cultures, stretching from Alaska to Chile. They show the incredible skill and creativity of the people who made them, long before 1500. Although these cultures were very different, they shared a similar view of the world. Human sacrifice was seen as a way to maintain balance between life and death. Fertility was also very important and celebrated in many different ways. Beautiful grave offerings - often made from gold - show how deeply people believed in life after death, a belief shared across the continent.

01.09.2024 > 31.12.2026

event website

ANTWERPEN

Open Air Sculpture Park

Corey McCorkle, Yayoi, 2005 © Corey McCorkle - Photo Ans Brys

Middelheim Museum - Open Air Sculpture Park
Middelheimlaan 61
2020 Antwerp

01.09.2024 > 31.12.2026

Open Air Sculpture Park

The Middelheim Museum is a unique institution where the amazing interplay between art and nature results in exceptional experiences. The art park showcases modern and contemporary sculptures amidst a green park setting. Works by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Rik Wouters, Isa Genzken, Chris Burden, Ana Mendieta, Jean Katambayi, Barbara Hepworth, Bruce Nauman, Germaine Richier, Pascale Marthine Tayou provide a unique overview of more than a century of visual arts.

01.09.2024 > 31.12.2026

event website

ANTWERPEN

GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In Between

MoMu - Fashion Museum
Nationalestraat 28
2000 Antwerp

27.09.2025 > 01.02.2026

GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In Between

GIRLS explores the beauty and complexity of girlhood, as it has been represented and remembered across time. The exhibition examines how ideals and images of girlhood continue to influence current visual culture and fashion. It presents girlhood as both a personal experience and a powerful cultural construct that shapes identity and aesthetics. With work by Louise Bourgeois, Sofia Coppola, Edgar Degas, Chopova Lowena, Martin Margiela, Nigel Shafran, Léon Spilliaert, Juergen Teller and many more.

27.09.2025 > 01.02.2026

event website

CHARLEROI

Bachelot & Caron. Porcelaine et faits divers

Bachelot-Caron, Holopherne, 2008 © Bachelot-Caron

BPS22 – Musée d’art de la Province du Hainaut
Boulevard Solvay 22
6000 Charleroi

31.01.2026 > 03.05.2026

Bachelot & Caron. Porcelaine et faits divers

The work of Louis Bachelot (France, 1960) and Marjolaine Caron (France, 1963) originates in the illustration of news items. Combining photography, digital processes, collage and pictorial effects, the duo stages human comedy in photographic paintings whose aesthetics reference the history of art and cinema. For over eight years, they have been integrating performance and ceramics into their practice in large immersive installations that question the contradictions of society and its darker side. The exhibition Porcelaine et faits divers, the first retrospective of the Bachelot-Caron duo, alludes to a baroque and theatrical fable, exploring desire, violence, grotesqueness and the essence of art.

Also on view: Chantal Maes. Because even stars stumble
The starting point for this retrospective exhibition of the Belgian photographer Chantal Maes is a reinterpretation of her entire artistic output. Photographs, video sequences and sound recordings intertwine, midway between weaving and cutting, guided by the idea of a cinema on paper. A body of work centred on relationships with others but designed as an autobiographical introspection.

31.01.2026 > 03.05.2026

event website

CHARLEROI

Histoires en séries - Astrid Ullens de Schooten Whettnall Collection

Helen Levitt, New York, 1980. Vintage chromogenic print, 30.4 x 45.3 cm. Collection Astrid Ullens de Schooten Whettnall © Film Documents LLC. Courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne

The Photography Museum
Avenue Paul Pastur 11
6032 Charleroi

04.10.2025 > 25.01.2026

Histoires en séries - Astrid Ullens de Schooten Whettnall Collection

The Astrid Ullens de Schooten Whettnall collection, managed by the A Stichting Foundation, includes approximately 5,500 photographs by 100 different photographers, acquired over a 30-year period. These photographers, from diverse backgrounds, explore various themes such as social documentaries, architecture, and life stories. Astrid Ullens collected complete series of photographic sets. The exhibition Histoires en séries will feature works such as Nicholas Nixon's “The Brown Sisters” and Hans-Peter Feldmann's “100 Jahre,” bringing together 42 photographers of various nationalities, including Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, and Helen Levitt.

04.10.2025 > 25.01.2026

event website

GENT

Restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece

The restoration studio at the MSK during the third phase of the restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece © Sint-Baafskathedraal, Art in Flanders vzw. Photo: Martin Corlazzoli

MSK - Museum of Fine Arts
Fernand Scribedreef 1
9000 Ghent

02.05.2025 > 01.03.2026

Restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece

Since 2023, seven panels of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers (more commonly known as the Ghent Altarpiece) have been undergoing restoration in the heart of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (MSK). Visitors could already follow the campaign from 2012 to 2019, and now the remaining panels are in the museum for the final restoration phase. During the week, the restorers of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) can be seen live at work, in the studio behind glass. At the weekend, the panels are placed in a location visible to visitors.

02.05.2025 > 01.03.2026

event website

GENT

Marc De Blieck. Point de voir

Marc de Blieck, Fall#11, 2024, Ultrachrome pro on mitsumata paper, 144 x 108 cm. Courtesy the artist and Annie Gentils Gallery. Photo we document art

S.M.A.K. – Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art
Jan Hoetplein 2
9000 Ghent

17.10.2025 > 15.03.2026

Marc De Blieck. Point de voir

S.M.A.K. is hosting the first comprehensive solo exhibition devoted to the work of Marc De Blieck (Sint-Niklaas, 1958). De Blieck is a consistent and influential figure in conceptual photography in Belgium. He views the photographic image as a construction that arises at the intersection of technology, cultural norms, and aesthetic principles. Despite their simple construction, his images reveal an increasingly complex visual grammar, exposing the tension between a photographic vision and artificiality. De Blieck starts from a critical reflection on the essence and malleability of images but also raises questions about our understanding of visual experience.

17.10.2025 > 15.03.2026

event website

GENT

Resistance. The Power of the Image

Avelino Sala © ‘4,33 minutes of silence of minutes of silence’, 2021

S.M.A.K. – Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art
Jan Hoetplein 2
9000 Ghent

28.11.2025 > 03.05.2026

Resistance. The Power of the Image

As part of EUROPALIA ESPAÑA, S.M.A.K. presents Resistance. The Power of the Image, a group exhibition featuring approximately 20 Spanish artists exploring the role of art in the fight for democratic values. Since the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Spanish artists have used images to resist oppression, demand rights, and expose injustices. A key moment was the 1937 Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair, where Picasso’s Guernica became a lasting symbol of artistic resistance. The exhibition highlights two crucial periods: the 1970s, during the final years of Franco’s dictatorship and Spain’s democratic transition, and the past decade, marked by protests like the Indignados movement, in response to economic crises and democratic decline.

Also on view:
Marc De Blieck. Point de voir / 17 Oct 2025 > 15 Mar 2026
Narcisse Tordoir. Fake Barok (collection presentation) / 28 Nov 2025 > 3 May 2026
Aziz Hazara. Bow Echo (collection presentation) / 28 Nov 2025 > 3 May 2026
10 years of S.M.A.K. Moves / 19 Dec 2025 > 3 May 2026

28.11.2025 > 03.05.2026

event website

HORNU

Patricia Urquiola. Metamophosis

Patricia Urquiola, Octopoda, Kvadrat, ReThink 2024 © Casper Sejersen

CID - Innovation and design centre
Site du Grand-Hornu / Rue Sainte-Louise 82
7301 Hornu

14.12.2025 > 26.04.2026

Patricia Urquiola. Metamophosis

As part of Europalia Spain, the CID invites the internationally renowned architect-designer Patricia Urquiola. The exhibition primarily focuses on the research of the Patricia Urquiola Studio over the past five years. At a time when climate change and artificial intelligence are gradually reshaping certain aspects of the creative sphere, the exhibition Patricia Urquiola. Metamorphosis explores our own relationship to change, the transformation of our world, matter, and our perception of beauty... The result is a new aesthetic, a true formal and cultural mutation.

14.12.2025 > 26.04.2026

event website

HORNU

Honoré d’O. Quarantaine – Quarantine. 40 Days in the Desert

Honoré d’O, Donner un verre d'eau au désert chaque jour. Image vidéo Marfa, Texas, 2024. Courtesy of the artist

MACS - Museum of contemporary art
Site du Grand-Hornu / Rue Sainte-Louise 82
7301 Hornu

14.12.2025 > 10.05.2026

Honoré d’O. Quarantaine – Quarantine. 40 Days in the Desert

Conceived by Honoré d’O (Audenarde, 1961) for the large square room at MACS, this exhibition consists of a vast installation in which the Belgian artist evokes the “retreat into the desert” he undertook for 40 days as part of his residency in Marfa (Texas) in 2024. As its title suggests through the double meaning of the French word “quarantaine,” (both “around forty (days)” and “quarantine”), the project combines the experience of spiritual introspection with that of physical isolation.

14.12.2025 > 10.05.2026

event website

HORNU

Cristina Garrido. The White Cube is Never Empty

Cristina Garrido, Local Colour is a Foreign Invention (The Netherlands/ Belgium) (2020). Pigmented inks print on Hahnemühle paper. 126,5 x 149 cm (detail). Image: Roberto Ruiz. Courtesy of the artist; The Goma and Galería CURRO

MACS - Museum of contemporary art
Site du Grand-Hornu / Rue Sainte-Louise 82
7301 Hornu

14.12.2025 > 10.05.2026

Cristina Garrido. The White Cube is Never Empty

Programmed as part of Europalia España, The White Cube is Never Empty is the first solo show in a Belgian museum by the Spanish artist Cristina Garrido (Madrid, 1986). Spanning the past decade of her practice, it includes a new site-specific installation that is a direct response to the Museum’s distinctive architecture and exhibition history. Garrido’s multidisciplinary work examines how art is framed – culturally, digitally and institutionally. Recurring themes in her practice include the relationship between art and cultural narratives, the impact of technology, and the role of viewer subjectivity. The exhibition offers a critical perspective on the evolving dynamics of the contemporary art world. It invites viewers to consider how identity and context shape artistic production and reception.

14.12.2025 > 10.05.2026

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LA LOUVIERE

Collectionner l'image

Benoît Jacques, Plan S intégral, 2005, 63 × 90 cm, Rives BFK 250 gr, 3-color lithograph

The Centre for Engravings and Prints (CGII)
Rue des Amours 10
7100 La Louvière

14.01.2025 > 31.01.2026

Collectionner l'image

The exhibition Collectionner l’image offers an immersion into the heritage archival room of the Ateliers du Texte et de l’Image in Liège, Belgium. Initiated in 2022, this collection of original works invites visitors to discover the diversity of graphic and narrative practices of illustrator-authors from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This exhibition explores the place of the album in contemporary creation, the challenges of image conservation and the materiality of illustrated books for young people.

14.01.2025 > 31.01.2026

LA LOUVIERE

Clémence van Lunen. Sculptures 1995-2025 - A Retrospective

Keramis - Ceramics Centre
Place des Fours-Bouteilles 1
7100 La Louvière

11.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

Clémence van Lunen. Sculptures 1995-2025 - A Retrospective

Keramis (Belgium) and the Gerhard Marcks Haus in Bremen (Germany) present the first major retrospective of the Belgian sculptor Clémence Van Lunen (Brussels, 1959). Trained in Brussels and Paris, she first explored wood sculpture before turning to ceramics in the early 2000s, following influential trips to China. Winner of the Grand Prize at the Vallauris Biennale in 2008, she has since developed a powerful, body-scaled sculptural language across thematic series (Chinese Landscape, Doodle, Cascades, Dragons, Wicked Flowers, Tang Family, Curtains…). Her vibrant, humorous works combine the physicality of clay with bold colours and dynamic forms. The exhibition features nearly 80 key sculptures.

11.10.2025 > 01.03.2026

event website

LEUVEN

Alicja Kwade

M Leuven
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28
3000 Leuven

10.10.2025 > 22.02.2026

Alicja Kwade

Alicja Kwade is internationally renowned for her sculptures and installations that challenge scientific and philosophical concepts. She achieves this by dismantling the boundaries of perception and putting our observational capacities to the test. By using mirroring and repetition, and by deconstructing or reconstructing everyday objects and natural materials, she seeks to expose and understand the essence of our world. Her work is simultaneously poetic, magical and visually challenging. Her solo exhibition at M showcases a selective overview of her practice in recent years, alongside new creations.

10.10.2025 > 22.02.2026

event website

LEUVEN

Collection of M

‘Marshes of Genk’, Rodolphe de Lexhy, 1894, Collection M Leuven, artinflanders.be photo: Cedric Verhelst | ‘I Sea' (detail), Tina Gillen, 2018, Flemish Community Collection at M Leuven, photo © the artist

M Leuven
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28
3000 Leuven

29.06.2024 > 29.04.2029

Collection of M

Collection of M’ spans several centuries: from ancient masters to contemporary makers and everything in between. The new displays showcase the richness of M’s collection and challenge visitors to actively look. Masterpieces and little-known gems reveal unexpected parallels or highlight the burning issues of the day. The presentation beings out the diversity of the collection in all its fascinating depth. Sculpture, painting, video, ceramics, glass ... The displays feature every conceivable media and discipline: historical objects from the Middle Ages, contemporary artworks and an array of masterpieces from other periods, some of the works being exhibited for the first time. Various themes and stories come to the fore, sometimes in an obvious way, and at other times more subtly. What do artworks communicate that isn’t perhaps visible?

29.06.2024 > 29.04.2029

event website

ROESELARE

Masterpieces by Belgian artists (1850-1950)

Het Kunstuur I Sint-Amandskerk
De Coninckplein 1+
8800 Roeselare

20.09.2025 > 14.06.2026

Masterpieces by Belgian artists (1850-1950)

Het Kunstuur offers a fascinating and highly interactive experience. The subtle combination of masterpieces of Belgian painting from 1850 to 1950, stories told by Flemish individuals, and music by Dirk Brossé creates a unique experience whose impact is both visual and emotional. The intimate setting, with groups of no more than eight, enhances the atmosphere, allowing each visitor to fully engage with the art and the stories it tells.
Advance reservation is mandatory.

20.09.2025 > 14.06.2026

event website

LUIK

Robert Doisneau. Instants donnés

La Boverie
Parc de la Boverie
4020 Liege

31.10.2025 > 19.04.2026

Robert Doisneau. Instants donnés

Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the sensitive and poetic world of Robert Doisneau (France, 1912-1994) through the largest Belgian retrospective ever devoted to his extraordinary work. Making its stop in Liège, this international touring exhibition presents nearly 400 striking photographs — a captivating blend of iconic images and rare gems — including intimate portraits of Picasso, Simenon, and Giacometti. This captivating journey offers a behind-the-scenes look at the photographer’s creative process, revealing the inspirations and historical moments that shaped his vision. A newly curated section highlights Doisneau’s special connection to Belgium, capturing its landscapes, vibrant personalities, and unforgettable moments in time. More than just an exhibition, it’s a moving encounter with the timeless spirit of a true humanist master.

31.10.2025 > 19.04.2026

event website

MARIEMONT

Mary of Hungary: Art & Power in the Renaissance

Jan Brueghel de Velours, Le Château de Mariemont, oil on canvas, 1612, Inv. CA 102 © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon / François Jay

Royal Museum of Mariemont
Chaussée de Mariemont 100
7140 Morlanwelz

22.11.2025 > 10.05.2026

Mary of Hungary: Art & Power in the Renaissance

This exhibition highlights the political, diplomatic, and artistic role of a key sixteenth-century figure: Mary of Hungary, the sister of Emperor Charles V and governor of the Low Countries. As princess, queen, regent, patron of the arts, and collector, she carved out a unique place in spheres traditionally dominated by men. Central to the complex imperial succession, Mary was a driving force for her family, reshaping history, territories and the arts through carefully crafted strategies of propaganda and representation.

22.11.2025 > 10.05.2026

event website

MECHELEN

Masterpieces by Belgian artists (1850-1950)

Het Kunstuur
Heilige Geestkapel / Minderbroedersgang 1-3
2800 Mechelen

22.09.2025 > 14.06.2026

Masterpieces by Belgian artists (1850-1950)

The ninth exhibition of Het Kunstuur in Mechelen once again offers a fascinating and highly interactive experience. The subtle combination of masterpieces of Belgian painting from 1850 to 1950, stories told by Flemish individuals, and music by Dirk Brossé creates a unique experience whose impact is both visual and emotional. The intimate setting, with groups of no more than eight, enhances the atmosphere, allowing each visitor to fully engage with the art and the stories it tells. Also on view in Hasselt and in Roeselaere - advance reservation is mandatory

22.09.2025 > 14.06.2026

event website

NAMUR

Japoniaiseries. Japanese fantasies in the time of Félicien Rops

Katsushika Hokusai, Fine Wind, Clear Morning (Gaifū kaisei). Series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku-sanjūrokkei), circa 1829–1833, woodblock print on Japanese paper, 26.2 x 38.5 cm. Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, Print Room, inv. S.IV 24510. © Brussels, KBR

Musée Félicien Rops
Rue Fumal 12
5000 Namur

18.10.2025 > 15.02.2026

Japoniaiseries. Japanese fantasies in the time of Félicien Rops

This exhibition delves into 19th-century European artists’ fascination with Japan. While Félicien Rops was influenced by the great Japanese masters of the Edo period, he remained critical of the Japonism trend. With a touch of irony, he referred to the Japanese-inspired elements in his work as ‘Japoniaiseries’. The exhibition highlights the influence of the ukiyo-e school on Rops’s art, placing him in dialogue with both Japanese and Japonist artists of his time. It also opens a conversation with contemporary creators, demonstrating the enduring legacy of these influences - particularly through the lens of manga and its global cultural impact.

18.10.2025 > 15.02.2026

event website

OOSTENDE

It’s a Sunday on the sea!

Jean Brusselmans, The Thunderstorm, 1938. Collection of Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Collection of the Flemish Community

Mu.zee @ Venetian Galleries
Seafront corner / Parijsstraat 2
8000 Ostend

28.06.2025 > 22.02.2026

It’s a Sunday on the sea!

The exhibition on view at the Venetian Galleries in Ostend - Mu.ZEE’s temporary location during renovations - explores the sea not only as a visual subject, but as a source of emotion, memory, and imagination. Calm or powerful, real or remembered, the sea continues to inspire artists. Featuring highlights from Mu.ZEE’s collection, with works by Léon Spilliaert, Henri-Victor Wolvens, Guillaume Bijl, Jacqueline Mesmaeker, Roger Raveel, Lili Dujourie, Erich Heckel, Etienne Elias, Jean Brusselmans, and others.

28.06.2025 > 22.02.2026

event website

SENEFFE

Thierry Bontridder. Sculpteur de bijoux (1981-2024)

Thierry Bontridder, Necklace Wake-Up, 2023

Domaine du Château de Seneffe
Rue Lucien Plasman 7-9
7180 Seneffe

03.12.2024 > 11.11.2025

Thierry Bontridder. Sculpteur de bijoux (1981-2024)

Thierry Bontridder, a Belgian jewellery designer, is renowned for the originality of his creations, working withunusual materials such as titanium, acrylic glass and nylon. Gradually, his artistic work shifted from jewellery, which is essentially sculptural, to actual sculpture, culminating in monumental, public works of art. His jewellery follows the same principles as his sculptures, with simple curves and shapes, playing on translucence and opacity, with subtle dialogues between light, space and colour.

03.12.2024 > 11.11.2025

event website

TENTOONSTELLINGEN

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