The Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium has evolved from a single institution (founded by decree in 1801 by Napoleon Bonaparte) into a world class, multi-museum showcase for art in Belgium. Over the past century, they have actively acquired a superb collection of modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, videos, and installations. Featured here are work by, among others, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Joseph Albers, Donald Judd, Lucio Fontana, Pierre Alechinsky, Marcel Broodthaers, and Luc Tuymans. AUTHOR: Francisca Vandepitte (PhD, Art History & Archaeology, University of Ghent, 1996) is Senior Curator of Modern Art (1900-1968) at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium (RMFAB) and responsible for the restoration department of modern art. She organised and co-organised numerous exhibitions of Belgian art, among them comprehensive retrospectives of the work of Panamarenko, Constantin Meunier, and Rik Wouters. Since 2015 she has taught at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She frequently publishes essays on Belgian modern art and on conservation and restoration. 250 colour illustrations