constantin meunier museum

Résumé

Inaugurated in 1939 and part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium since 1978, the Constantin Meunier Museum is located in the house-studio which the artist commissioned to be built in the Rue de I'Abbaye in Ixelles, in 1899, at the pinnacle of his artistic career. In this residential area, the building has preserved the peacefulness and warm atmosphere of a bourgeois house, which has since become a showcase for the artist's work. Constantin Meunier (1831-1905) was an important witness to the industrial boom of his era and successfully incorporated the heroism of workers into the art canon of the late 19th century, conferring nobility and symbolic force to labourers. Today, visitors can admire the diversity of his work, which encompasses sculptures, paintings, pastels and drawings. Through different themes and some hundred works that have been analysed and illustrated, this publication provides a significant overview of his oeuvre.