Musée Fin-de-Siècle Museum — Attraction in Brussels

An extremely large permanent exhibition that's in the lower floors of the main Fine Arts Museum. I found the exhibition (and the recommended circuit) a little unbalanced, with a huge number of paintings first, followed by furniture and home decor and accessories (tableware, vases, etc). Architecture is represented by a disappointing series of video displays hidden behind one gallery, which are both hard to see (with backlight from outside) and dull. To me, the architecture and interior design, the practical implementation of the art nouveau ethos which is most interesting and innovative about art nouveau. On one hand perhaps it makes sense to rebalance that perspective with a (re)focus on painting of the era, but the unbalance is excessive (maybe 80% paintings and 20% everything else). Also, and this really is personal taste, in a huge exhibition the first entire floor seemed to be of rather dull realist oil paintings, with the more edgy (and to me, more evocative and unique) pieces later in the circuit after I was already tired and a little jaded. In summary a great deal of material (too much) presented in a not particularly imaginative way. Good for students taking a course but a little much for someone wanting to be...

Musee Fin-De-Siecle (End of the Century Museum) is a member of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium which showcases international art forms popular around Europe at the turn of the 20th century.

Museum opening hours 10am to 5pm (Tues-Fri), 11am to 8pm (Sat-Sun) and closed on Mondays. Entrance fee is €8 per person. Alternatively, you can purchase a museum combo for €13 which provides entrance into the Old Masters and Magritte Museums as well.

There are nice Impressionist artworks to see at Musee Fin-De-Siecle but what we enjoyed seeing most were Art Nouveau period furniture and fashioned items, many of which were outstanding works by the likes of Mucha, Horta and others.

Overall, Musee Fin-De-Siecle is a very good museum if you have specific interest in the Art Nouveau. Otherwise you may want to take a pass. However, if you intend to purchase the Musees Royaux Des Beaux-Arts combo ticket, then give yourself 30-45 minutes to browse through this museum. You may find some things that interest you here.

Note: The combo ticket is only good for a single day so make sure you reserve enough time to adequately visit the Old Masters and Magritte...

Toddlers are not allowed:

No buggies are allowed. No nappy bags are allowed. ( So we had to carry a toddler all the way out to the entrance for a nappy change, not then go back) No toddlers in the shoulders allowed. Of course, without the buggy after a while, the kid wants to be carried. No running is allowed. Our kid got shouted at for running a few steps next to a parent. No sitting on the floor is allowed, I was told by the security staff, that the kid was not allowed to sit on the floor and I had to carry him at waist height. Good encouraging the families to come here. If the collection is also disappointing for a national gallery, they must rely on locals. Bonus point: At the ticket desk I asked for a ticket to access everything, they sold me a ticket that said "all museums" but this did not allowed us into the temporary exhibition. Great waste of time and money...