Musée Magritte Museum — Attraction in Brussels

WORST EXPERIENCE AT A MUSEUM EVER!!!

Definitly, don´t waste your money, nor your time at Brussels Magritte´s museum!! We went to Brussels only and specifically to visit this museum, and it was an awful, desappointing experience. We couldn´t complete the visit because the museum closed (and rudely throw us out) 10 minutes before the announced time!!

Every museum I ever went begins its closure from back to front, so as to make the visitors walk through the rooms, finishing the visit, and to the exit point. This one closed the front (last one at the suggested tour, and main room of the attraction) exposure room before any other and 10 minutes earlier, without any notice or previous notice of any kind!!!

So, we all visitors remained stucked between the door that a guardian closed on our noses (literally, he almost hit someone) and the rooms we have had already visited. The staff, with very rude manners, told us to go to the exit stairs or back to where we all have already been.

Inmediatly, we all asked for a manager to talk to, but it seemed nobody was responsible there!! The staff told us the manager won´t come, saying we should go and cacht her at her office if we wanted. The young lady pointed as chief manager by the staff was the rudest one!! we founded her at an inner hallway and, after she refused to talk with us, she also refused to tell her name, and then she literally rushed away through an elevator, carrying her bag and belongings and leaving her job before the closure time. After that, and of course out of record, the present members of staff admitted the bad managment policy, pointing her again, with fear, and blocking their names, on their uniforms.

Anyway, nobody gave any solution!! We even had to strongly complained so as to take our stuff from the lockers they have had also already closed!!

Meanwhile, time passed and we all saw there were "private" visits going on!! So, why the hell didn't they let 10-12 people complete their visit by walking into a room for 10 minutes??? Wasn´t that the easier solution?

They also refused to return us the tickets, or to give courtesy tickets to come back another day!! Awful managment!!

Finally, two senior ladies from staff appeared, and still refusing to show their names, one of them told the people to come back the morning after, and look for her to get in the museum skipping the entry fee. That supposed to be kind gesture doesn´t work for tourists that won´t be able to return the morning after, nor gives solution to their desappointing with Magritte´s Museum, with Belgium, and with belgium people, whom, by the way, and with honorable exceptions, aren´t kind at all with foreingers...

As a life long fan of Magritte's works, who was an inspiration in my artistic life, I had high hopes, finally coming to Brussels for the first time, there was no way I would miss a visit to the museum. I did not expect to be so disappointed. I was shocked at how thin the substance of the museum's insight into the artist is. I understand that Magritte had no interest in psychoanalysis, but that's not what I was after. Any kind of connection between his life and his works would have been satisfying - the drowning of his mother, for example, an important event in his life (mentioned only on the timeline on his life but no connection is made in his works). The advertising work he did - I was looking forward to seeing more of them. Prints, reproductions, anything. Helas, the selection is very poor. Many of the major pieces are missing. Fine. But out of those that are here, the presentation is lacklustre. I had paid extra for the audioguide, which in one instance there was a typo in the number next to the painting matching the audio description on the audioguide - a typo is innocent but come on guys, you're meant to be THE main museum committed to Belgium's great artist, it's easy to avoid a typo if you actually care - and several instances where I didn't understand the connection between what the audioguide was telling me and the painting. None of the descriptions next to each piece has any information in regards to the materials used (oils, canvas, etc), quite unusual, more so considering the modern painter whose works they have hanging alongside Magritte's does have that info. There is a version of the Ceci N'Est Pas Une Pipe but again, without any context. Compare this to the Munch museum in Oslo for example, and you quickly realise it has a long way to go in establishing itself as a serious tourist destination, or a real location for admiration or academic research for the artist's oeuvre. The gift shop is a final insult in cheaply produced prints (on one of them I can see the digital pixels) and crap memorabilia that made me feel more like a tourist than anywhere else in the city, especially considering that there was nothing here I hadn't already seen at Brussels Airport a while back during a...

The staff is very rude and not helpful at all. I am an art lover. I have visited many many museums/galleries. I never met any staff like this. I only have couple of hours to transfer to Brugge from Brussel. I carried a very heavy luggage with me. The staff rejected to let me in because they think my luggage is too big to put into the locker. I told them I don’t need a locker. I am happy to leave the luggage anywhere working for them. However, they won’t listen. They insisted that I have to store my luggage at the train station. That was not an easy walk to train station with my big luggage. There are many many stairs. BTW, I am a girl, and not strong. Obviously the staff didn’t consider how difficult it is to walk stairs with heavy luggage. As a result, I had my worst travel experience and worst museum visiting experience today. Too much time spent on the way to train station, back and forth. Eventually, all my efforts, traveling from Australia to Brussel to visit my favourite artist turned to be a very quick browse. I cannot describe how disappointed I am. Not only the staff who forced me to store my luggage at train station, the staff work at the shop also very rude. Guess they just do their daily job, so won’t bother to think how their behaviour could ruin other people’s life. Magritte is still a great artist, but the people who work at his home gallery just not qualified to work there. It’s a shame. If the policy is everyone has to lock their luggage, then at least the museum should provide a locker to fit in my 28“ suitcase. How difficult is it? This is the normal suitcase size!!! I hope the rude staff will have the same experience when they travel with heavy luggage, then they will know how...