Brussels museums launch 100 Masters campaign to promote permanent collections

The Brussels Museums Council has launched the exhibition 100 Masters, which sees 100 exceptional works of art on show for 100 days in 41 museums across the capital.

The council thinks that too much emphasis is put on temporary exhibitions and wants locals, expats and visitors to reconnect with the permanent museum collections in Brussels.

Some 500 artworks were shortlisted from the 108 museums in the capital and put to a jury of 20 representatives from the cultural and tourism sectors, together with restorers and communications specialists.

The pieces are wide-ranging, both ancient and contemporary, and spread all across Brussels - from the Fall of the Rebel Angels by Bruegel to the first locomotive on the European continent; from Juanma Gonzalez' painted shoes to moon rocks; from the Bozar building itself to a remarkably elaborate south Indian shadow puppet.

Also included are the complete letters between Rimbaud and Verlaine during their Belgian stay, a Merovingian drinking horn, Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat, Jan Fabre’s ballpoint pen mural L’Heure Bleue and an Ndop statue of a king from the Congolese Kasai region, whose creator is unknown.

As well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the public can go to www.100masters.brussels to discover all 100 masterpieces and vote for their favourite.

There are special tours for adults and for children, as well as tours in different languages on specific countries' national days, speed dates in various museums, "slow art" and apéro tours - and even a "paint it blue" Smurf day on 22 July at the Comics Art Museum.

Bloggers' response

To launch the event, 20 Belgian and international bloggers took part in a museum marathon which saw them whisked to 17 of the participating museums in one day.

Rosie Clark, from Culture 24 in the UK was impressed: "All the curators have been very passionate and engaging and great at explaining why the objects we are looking at are so significant.

"My favourite object, which I didn't expect, was the painting of the Death of Marat by David. I've seen the picture reproduced hundreds of times and always thought 'that's a bit morbid' - but the curator provided so many details such as that David was a friend of Marat's, that Marat had a skin condition that required many baths which is why he worked in the bath, that he was working on securing some funds for Charlotte Corday (because she was a widow) when she assassinated him. As he was telling us all these details and more, our eyes were darting around the painting and it really brought it to life."

Blogger Mar Dixon, also from the UK - who characterises herself as "a trouble maker - I do disruptive stuff in museums" - had a hard time deciding on a favourite. "I particularly liked Manneken Pis and the amazing number of fabulous outfits he has been given. I also really liked learning about the saxophone at the Musical Instrument Museum and the layout of the museum itself."

100 Masters, until 27 August
www.100masters.brussels

Photo: Pieter Bruegel l'Ancien, "La chute des anges rebelles", 1562 © Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles / photo : J. Geleyns / Ro scan