BRUSSELS.- From 6 December 2013, the general public will be able to discover the Musée Fin-de Siècle and its outstanding collection of works by Belgian artists such as James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, Léon Spilliaert, Victor Horta, Henry Van de Velde, and Philippe Wolfers, as well as by foreign artists such as Paul Gauguin, Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard, Emile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, and Alphonse Mucha, among others.

Four years after the opening of the Musée Magritte, which marked the first stage in the redeployment of the federal collections, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium announced the culmination of the second stage with the birth of the Musée Fin-de-Siècle. The new museum will situate the Belgian heritage at the centre of the international scene.

The Musée Fin-de-Siècle presents Brussels as Europe's creative crossroads at the turn of the century. Thanks to the salons of Les XX (1883–1894) and La Libre Esthétique (1894–1914), artists met each other and created works and objets d’art of exceptional richness.

This artistic dynamism is presented in an attractive, modern exhibition design. Visitors find themselves immersed in the atmosphere of 1900, thanks to a combination of exhibits that range across the arts, from philosophy to poetry, from architecture to painting, from photography to literature… The public will be able to relive this period of change, of transition from the 19th to the 20th century through the emergence of new artistic movements: Impressionism, Realism, neo Impressionism, post-Impressionism, and Symbolism. Within this wealth of artistic achievement, the specific contribution of Belgian artists such as Jean Delville, Henri Evenepoel, Constantin Meunier, Emile Claus, Théo Van Rysselberghe, Félicien Rops, and Léon Spilliaert is highlighted.

It has only been possible to do justice to the multidisciplinary nature of the period thanks to a partnership that brings together the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Royal Museums of Art and History, the Royal Library, Belfius, La Monnaie/De Munt, the Cinematek, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the Bibliotheca Wittockiana, and the King Baudouin Foundation. In addition to these partners, we must recognise the contribution of the Brussels-Capital Region, which has made available the extraordinary Gillion Crowet collection, one of the highlights of the new Musée Fin-de-Siècle. The National Lottery, the Belgian Buildings Agency (Régie des Bâtiments/Regie der Gebouwen), as well as the Petercam, Tevean, and Perrier-Jouët companies have also helped to fund this project. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts particularly want to thank the Gillion Crowet family for their support in the implementation of a project that is so dear to the museum.

Visitors to the museum will be treated to multidisciplinary, sensory experiences and creative discoveries, enhanced by the use of new technology.

As a public space open to all, the Musée Fin-de-Siècle has been designed to be also accessible to people with reduced mobility.