Exhibitions | Brafa Art Fair

BRUSSEL

NIMBUS

Atomium
Place de l'Atomium 1
1020 Brussels

14.02.2026 > 07.03.2027

NIMBUS

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 NIMBUS, a new artwork created by Visual System to mark the twentieth anniversary of the renovation of the Atomium. It extends the unique dialogue that the collective has maintained for several years with this iconic architecture and with audiences from all over the world.

The work plays with and disrupts geometries: the monument’s original tubes are reconfigured into gigantic columns that give rise to a living, inhabited space, while the mirrored spheres, emblematic of the building, multiply across the walls and unsettle spatial and temporal references. Nimbus creates a suspended space where light and sound, carried by an original musical composition by Thomas Vaquié, form a vibrant halo, a protective sphere. The audience engages in dialogue with an evolving artwork, creating a singular, plural and universal experience through movement and personal sensitivity. Nimbus thus celebrates the architecture of the Atomium, revealing a monument in perpetual metamorphosis, where diversity, contemplation and collective imagination converge.

The Atomium ticket automatically includes entry to the Design Museum Brussels, 150 m away.

14.02.2026 > 07.03.2027

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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

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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

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

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 >

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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 >

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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

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ANTWERPEN

Beloved. An intimate look at masterpieces

Museum Mayer van den Bergh @ Maagdenhuis
Lange Gasthuisstraat 33
2000 Antwerp

20.06.2025 > 12.09.2027

Beloved. An intimate look at masterpieces

Consolation. Pride. Inspiration and hope. The masterpieces from the collection of Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp still stir up a lot of emotions. From the Belgian artist Bent Van Looy to a mother-daughter duo: 43 museum enthusiasts have selected a piece that touches them. Their selection of 90 masterpieces will remain visible in the nearby Maagdenhuis during the renovation of the museum. Visitors will be able to unravel the mystery of Pieter Bruegel’s Mad Meg and admire stunning pieces by Pieter Paul Rubens, Quinten Massys and other masters.

20.06.2025 > 12.09.2027

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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 > 31.12.2027

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 > 31.12.2027

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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

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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

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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

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