Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium — Attraction in Brussels

Oh how I looked forward to coming here again, and what a disaster it is. Bette Davis expressed it perfectly with "what a dump" because that is what it has become. It us stuck in that time-frame of the 70's with a hint of 90's. The interior are badly lit, carpets are dirty, there are walls full of humidity yet painting are still hanging there. The beautifull original walls are still covered in a grey fabric creating questionable background. There us no sense of direction and the staff is, well very community loaded "we flemmish, we french" hating each other openly in front of visitors. On top of that they were loudly discussing how "everything would be run better if they had free reign with the suppliers they had" not something you see or hear in Amsterdam, Paris or London.

Now the collections : Magritte's art is for most part leased out abroad, so non of his true masterpieces are here right now, yet this is mentioned nowhere. You get to see a nice collection, but they make no sense. Divided over three floors they are suppose to go about a specific period, yet you find works from much later in that section. Everything scripted on the walls is in French with no translations in smaller print. It's allthri lingual, with our third language neglected again and again printed so small you have to bump into each other to read it close up.

As for the other collections... well forget the contemporary section, that is off limits for years now, even though on the website the plan and subsections are clearly present. It was the section I wanted to visit. Instead I got stuck with the "old master" there are a few good pieces on display, but where they are hung, how they are lit etc... is another matter. The museum is still stuck in the "less is more" aproach, which I get up to a point, but when you hang the small piece on the walls with the highest ceilings and the big ones in small rooms it's just off looking and it looks like "a dump"

Now this museum is in Nigeria need of renovation. And I know the Belgian government hasn't got the funds to renovate the building, but where are the big benefactors gone? The Dutch collection is sponsored by DAF TRUCKS but that's it. And even that section can use a review of how it is put together. The penultimate Belgian painting of our revolution should be up and out in the main part of the forum above the entrance, instead of the three small paintings that hang there now. Or hang it in the room where the Breughels hang now. Makes it stand out. Also secure the art, anyone can come in and glue themselves to them, security is weak or non existant. The three people in front of me had the alarm go off when they walked through the metal detector but security stood there and smiled.

Lastly the "shops" they are a mess. A pile up of books, like in a clearance sale. Maybe they should visit the V&A, Booimans van Beuningen, Louvre and other musea to see how it's done. And get professional staff and get rid of the gorvernment workers who are only there because it's easy and play out communotary wars and have no sense of professional attitudes needed at this level.

Mso untill renovated I would say, avoid. The best thing about the exoerience was the security team that checked the tickets, but only barely so, at least they tried to make me buy an extra ticket for a...

OLD MASTERS: pretty mediocre collection of forgettable paintings commissioned by patrons and therefore lacking creative imagination and true inspiration. The space itself it misused: it is enormous, way too big even in proportion to the largest pieces. It's impossible to achieve any kind of intimacy with the works. Yes, of course, Brueghel and Bosch stand out but they are probably less than 1% of the works exposed. Only a couple of minor works by Rubens deserve attention. Other objection, the tags with information are too small, and in the case of large paintings, too far away from the viewpoint. A better way would be to hang them BELOW the paintings, right in the middle. And, please, how hard is it to add information about medium and support (ex: oil on canvas or oil on wood)? The exhibit needs a major revision with a new curator who can add context about the society and the revolutionary introduction of domestic themes in public paintings. One last thing, please, there are too many chickens. Get rid of at least 2/3rds. MAGRITTE: a missed opportunity. If Old Masters did not have enough text to explain the context, here it is the opposite. Quotation after quotation of Magritte's words on the wall, in gold cursive, with the most trite and banal statements about art, life, art, life, art, life and word&image. The most famous Magrittes aren't here, I mean the painting by which we all learned about his existence. OK, the museum doesn't have a way to obtain them, but it would be no shame to have a couple of rooms with posters of the mythical works that really take you into a different dimension. All together, it was a very...

This is the first time I've left a single-star review in my life. The staff at the ticket desk was so rude and cold, maybe because I am not of European origin. She kept chatting with her colleague, ignoring us even after she saw us and heard our "Hi" and "Bonjour", 30 seconds later, another "Bonjour". We had to wait quite a while for the staff at the next desk to finish dealing with their customer. When we were about to leave for the next staff member, she turned to us and started working. Her attitude during the purchase process was so disappointing for a staff member in a ROYAL MUSEUM, and we were so sad about being discriminated against. If you are not from Europe, I recommend using online purchase (I also tried, but the website is garbage. However, it is way better than being discriminated against). Considering that the ticket machines were not working and this woman was not working, it was an interesting experience.

We were so upset thinking about how we were treated for the first 30 minutes, but we were somewhat relieved by reading others' reviews saying the same thing about rude staff. Therefore, I would like to leave this review for future visitors (= new victims) to try to make you feel better. It is not your fault; the staff...