The chronological display
Three floors from Cubism to Surrealist maturity.
Warburg — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Magritte Museum holds the world's largest collection of René Magritte, Belgium's most famous Surrealist — more than 200 works of paintings, drawings, sculptures, films and photographs, in an elegant building on the Place Royale. The bowler-hatted man with the apple, the pipe that "is not a pipe", the sky inside shapes — all here at their source. The display is chronological over three floors descended from the top: from his beginnings and Cubist influence, to the Paris years and Surrealism, to his maturity in Brussels — with his letters, photographs and short films revealing the quiet man behind the shocking images. You understand how Magritte built his visual riddle from ordinary bourgeois life in Brussels. Among Brussels' most compelling museums, and the combined ticket with the adjoining Royal Museums saves. Book a timed slot at peak — numbers are limited in the small rooms.
Three floors from Cubism to Surrealist maturity.
Letters, films and photographs revealing the quiet Magritte.
The pipe, the bowler hat, the sky inside shapes — at their source.
Place Royale 1, 1000 Brussels
Musical Instruments Museum (MIM)The Musical Instruments Museum is among the world's most important instrument mu1 minute walk4.3
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of BelgiumThe Royal Museums of Fine Arts are Belgium's largest art complex, on the Place R1 minute walk4.6
Coudenberg PalaceCoudenberg is Brussels' lost palace: on the hill of the Place Royale stood for c1 minute walk4.4
BELvue MuseumThe museum of Belgian history, in an eighteenth-century mansion directly facing 2 minutes walk4.3
Palace of Charles of LorraineThe remains of an eighteenth-century palace built by Charles Alexander of Lorrai2 minutes walk4.4For many, yes: a globally unique collection in a clear display, suited even to those who do not know art — Magritte's images captivate everyone. Ninety minutes suffice. If you have time for one Brussels museum, it is this or the Comics Art Museum. For the classical-art lover: add the Old Masters on the combined ticket.