The Oldmasters Museum, located in Brussels' Royal Quarter, is dedicated to European painting from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Established in 1801 by Napoleon, it houses a significant collection of works by Old Master artists.
Housed within the former Palace of Fine Arts, the Oldmasters Museum occupies a building, designed by Alphonse Balat and inaugurated in 1880. The building integrates an extensive sculptural program: allegorical figures representing Music, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting crown the principal piers, while medallions of Rubens, Van Ruysbroeck, and Jean de Bologne further anchor the structure’s artistic identity within the grand tradition of the fine arts.
Oldmasters Museum - entrance
Oldmasters Museum
Accessible from the Rue de la Régence, the museum’s vast rectangular main hall, originally known as the Sculpture Hall and now referred to as the Forum, was conceived as an interior courtyard, framed by a colonnaded gallery and illuminated by a large skylight.
Forum
Forum
Forum ceiling
The Balat Staircase, composed of four straight flights, is sheltered beneath a vaulted ceiling supported by two clusters of Ionic columns.
Balat staircase
The museum's Rubens Room features more than 20 paintings by the artist. The exhibition also includes several paintings by French painter Jacques-Louis David, such as "The Death of Marat" and "Mars Being Disarmed by Venus".
Rubens Room
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David
The Hôtel Argenteau was integrated into the museum complex in 1965 and now houses the Museum Shop, featuring a striking Art Deco staircase.
staircase and skylight inside Hôtel Argenteau
The Hôtel Gresham followed in 1967, becoming the museum’s main exit. Originally constructed by Barnabé Guimard in 1780, it was later redesigned in 1903 in the Art Nouveau style by architect Léon Govaerts during its ownership by the Gresham insurance company.
Hôtel Gresham
Hôtel Gresham
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