Experience

ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh counts down to closure with festive farewell programme

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Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp will close for renovation for a few years from 27 April 2025. A festive farewell programme will put the top collection of the 19th-century collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh in the spotlight one last time. For art lovers, a unique and, for the time being, last chance to visit the atmospheric museum in the heart of Antwerp. Ticket sales started on 4 March.

Museum Mayer van den Bergh’s plans are ambitious. The museum will not only be thoroughly restored, but also a lot bigger. The adjacent corner house – once the parental home of Fritz Mayer van den Bergh – and a new building will provide more comfort for visitors and works of art. 

The museum will close its doors to the public from 27 April 27 2025. The reopening is planned for 2029. 

Part of the collection will remain visible to the public in the nearby Maagdenhuis, but many top pieces and the unique historical style rooms of the museum will disappear behind closed doors for a few years. 

A final farewell

Enough reasons to invite Antwerp residents and museum lovers for a final farewell. A Bruegel lecture, a tea ceremony, a creative workshop or a final chat with a favourite masterpiece in the historical museum? 

From 22 March, visitors can enjoy a special farewell programme. Ticket sales for the full programme start on Tuesday 4 March.

Programme

  • ARTIST TALKS. Contemporary artists talk about Pieter Bruegel the Elder and his infectious creativity. Visitors discover how this Flemish master lives on in the performing arts, literature and music of today.
  • CREATIVE WORKSHOPS. Decorate a dinner plate in the style of Bruegel, design your own ex libris book stamp or compose a ‘dusty’ portrait with your toddler. Various workshops – free or not – offer creativity in abundance for young and old.
  • HIDDEN TREASURES. Under expert guidance, visitors admire vulnerable collection pieces from the depot, such as the Breviarium Mayer van den Bergh (a beautifully illuminated prayer book) and several fascinating Bruegel prints.
  • MUSEUM BY NIGHT. The museum keeps its doors open until 10 pm on several evenings. Date your favourite work of art, listen to a guide or follow a drawing workshop. A touch of music completes your evening visit. ​
  • BRUEGEL LECTURES. On 4 Sundays, experts will highlight various facets of the great master: his printmaking, humour, landscapes and of course his ever-fascinating Dulle Griet (Mad Meg). ​
  • TEA CEREMONIES. Visitors sit down at a table in the salon of Henriëtte van den Bergh, the founder of the museum, and let their taste buds be surprised by an experienced tea sommelier.
  • YOGA IN THE MUSEUM. Start your day zen and roll out your yoga mat in one of the atmospheric museum rooms.
  • SLOW ART DAYS. 27 seconds: that is how long visitors look at a work of art on average. Under the guidance of a guide, visitors really take the time to look and attentively enjoy unsuspected details.
  • GUIDED TOURS. Various thematic tours immerse visitors one last time in the special story of Fritz Mayer van den Bergh and his unique collection.
  • MUSEUM OF TOMORROW. Curious about the museum’s future plans? During the weekends, visitors can pop into the adjacent Hof van Arenberg, the former residence of the Mayer van den Bergh family and in the future part of the museum, for free. They will receive explanations and help build tomorrow themselves.
  • FIN DE SIÈCLE BAR. On Saturday 26 April, the museum will close in style: for one evening, the museum will open an exclusive Fin de Siècle bar, where the magic of a masked ball will be revived. Sip a cocktail from the Belle Époque era, venture onto the dance floor for a waltz or polka, or have your hair and make-up done in our Belle Époque salon.

Discover the full programme here: www.museummayervandenbergh.be/afscheid. ​ ​

Museum full of stories

Museum Mayer van den Bergh is a museum full of art, but also full of special stories. ​

Did you know that…

  • the museum is a tribute from a mother to her deceased son? When collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh died in 1901 after an unfortunate fall from his horse, his mother – Henriëtte van den Bergh – made his dream come true: a museum for his art collection.
  • Museum Mayer van den Bergh is the only museum in Flanders with original works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in its collection? Visitors can marvel at the world-famous ‘Dulle Griet’ and his special ‘Twelve Proverbs on Plates‘.
  • the oldest painted panel in Belgian museum possession can be admired in Museum Mayer van den Bergh? It was painted in Umbria around 1270-1280 and shows various scenes from the life of Mary.
  • Fritz Mayer van den Bergh collected more than 6,000 objects during his short life? The collection is exceptionally diverse and consists of paintings, sculptures, jewellery, coins, ceramics, stained glass windows, tapestries and many other applied art objects. …Fritz purchased an average of 2 works of art per day in the last 10 years of his life?
  • the museum collection contains no fewer than 60 works that are on the Flemish masterpieces list and are therefore ‘rare and indispensable’?.

Art and museums in Antwerp

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