Experience

ANTWERP | Middelheim Museum concludes Anniversary Year and thanks visitors

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As the programme celebrating 75 years of the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp comes to a close, the museum marks the end of an exceptional jubilee year. On 6 November 2025, exactly 75 years after its founding, the Middelheim Museum looked back with satisfaction and expresses its gratitude to visitors, artists, and partners for their continued engagement and enthusiasm.

Between May and September, more than 350,000 people visited the sculpture park.

Looking back on a remarkable year

In 2025, the Middelheim Museum celebrated its 75th anniversary. Instead of hosting one large exhibition, the museum chose a programme that allowed visitors to experience the permanent collection and park from fresh perspectives. The inspiration came from the visitors themselves, who come not only to view art, but also to read, draw, or simply relax among the sculptures.

The art park revealed its full versatility — as a place to discover, create, and unwind, where people could connect with art and nature at their own pace. 

The audio tour, featuring thirteen literary authors curated by Uschi Cop, and a podcast by Sarah Vandeurzen, reached a wide and attentive audience. The open drawing studio in the Braem Pavilion – with sessions by artists Paul Kindersley, Peter Rogiers, and Joëlle Tuerlinckx – became a surprising crowd favourite, welcoming organised drawing classes and individual visitors alike.

Performances by The Zangles, the poetry festival by Dennis Tyfus, shared reading moments in the outdoor library, fully booked yoga sessions, and humorous guided tours all brought lively encounters between art and the public.

Some of the museum’s more delicate favourites were displayed outdoors throughout the summer, including ‘The Pogo Never Stops‘ by Dennis Tyfus, ‘Dabei sein ist alles‘ by Kati Heck, and ‘Le Tag/200m‘ or ‘Deadline Middelheim 2019‘ by Joëlle Tuerlinckx. The permanent collection was further enriched by loans from Phyllida Barlow, Aline Bouvy, Zanele Muholi, and Guy Rombouts.

To mark the 75th anniversary, Antwerp’s city poet Esohe Weyden presented the museum with a new city poem, ‘Tijdslijn‘, which was unveiled in the sculpture park on 6 November.

“In 2025, the Middelheim Museum celebrates its 75th anniversary as both a top museum and a vibrant meeting place in the city. Whether you come to marvel at masterpieces, catch your breath, or take part in a creative workshop, everyone feels at home here. The museum unites art, nature, and visitors. Wellbeing is another key strength: the new sculptural gateway between Middelheim Hospital and the museum, designed with young people from the child and adolescent psychiatry department, beautifully illustrates the healing and caring power of art and culture — for everyone, and especially as a guide through life’s rougher waves”, said Lien Van de Kelder (Vooruit), Alderman for Culture.

Looking ahead to new encounters

After a festive and well-attended year, the Middelheim Museum looks forward to new projects that will continue to explore the relationship between art and nature — creating space for wonder, creativity, and wellbeing.

A first highlight will be the open-air exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist Monster Chetwynd, running from 16 May to 11 October 2026. Under the working title ‘A Friends Making Machine‘, she will bring her exuberant oeuvre to the sculpture park, featuring a blend of sculptures, performances, films, and workshops centred on different forms of encounter.

For the museum, Chetwynd is designing a new eastern entrance gate — a sculptural work that will literally welcome visitors and symbolically connect the park with its surrounding communities, including patients of ZAS Middelheim and UKJA (the Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), as well as students from the University of Antwerp. The gate, created in close collaboration with UKJA’s children and young people, will be inaugurated on 16 May.

The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in Chetwynd’s world, where stories, images, and encounters merge in a vibrant network that embodies the power of care, creativity, and playfulness.

Art and museums in Antwerp

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