Wiertz Museum

Wiertz Museum

Museum in the original home & studio of artist Antoine Wiertz, known for painting on giant canvases. The museum, which has preserved its original atmosphere, is dedicated to painter, sculptor and writer Antoine Wiertz (1806-1865), a somewhat controversial artistic figure of the Belgian Romantic movement.

Wiertz loved the spectacular, painting giant canvasses to indulge his thirst for the excessive, like the more than 8 metres long Greeks and Trojans fighting over the body of Patroclus. Wiertz is also known for his dramatic subjects and horror scenes, such as his Premature Burial. His most famous painting is probably Two Girls (La Belle Rosine), in which a young woman faces a skeleton, reflecting the artist’s fascination with death and the fragility of human life. Wiertz also produced numerous portraits and self-portraits.

History of Collection

The construction of this workshop-museum in the Léopold district of Brussels was agreed in 1850 between Wiertz and the Belgian government. During the year following the artist’s death, the entire collection of works then in his studio was bequeathed to the state. Since 1868, the Wiertz Museum has been part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.