Musée d’Ixelles to remain closed for an extra year

The Musée d'Ixelles - boasting works by Belgian greats Alechinsky, Permeke, René Magritte and Constantin Meunier, not to mention an impressive collection of Toulouse Lautrec posters - will remain under wraps for another year, the museum’s director Claire Leblanc has announced.

Closed in May 2018 for a thorough renovation, and initially planned to reopen in 2022, the museum will now not be able to welcome the public until the end of 2026 at the earliest.

“We had to shift our planning due to a number of unexpected technical problems,” Leblanc said.

“Our teams now hope to complete the works by summer 2026. Then we will continue with the furnishing of the rooms. We aim to reopen by the end of 2026, at the latest in spring 2027.”

The renovation is to improve the museum layout, for example by increasing the size of the exhibition rooms and opening the garden to the public. In addition, there will be a cafe and a new passage area to connect the various buildings.

The museum’s collection focuses on works from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It features a comprehensive selection of Belgian art, boasting works by Anna Boch, Paul Delvaux and Rik Wouters, as well as old masters.

During the closure, the museum worked on extramural activities. Launched in 2018, the popular "Musée comme chez soi" (museum at home) weekends, where local Ixelles residents invited people to see their favourite museum artworks out of a selection provided, won the 2021 Art Explora – Académie des beaux-arts European Award.

Open to all European cultural organisations, from all artistic sectors, this award “supports innovative practices in audience access, participation and engagement that can be shared across Europe”.

“We can’t reveal much about our opening exhibitions yet,” Leblanc told Bruzz. “What is certain is that we will present many new works to the public - new purchases and works in storage restored during the closure period.”