The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp or Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (KMSKA) closed 2025 with over 570,000 visitors, a new record. The opening year in 2023 attracted almost 535,000 visitors.

The year started strongly with the final month of the James Ensor exhibition. This success continued unabated with the exhibition ‘Hans Op de Beeck: Nachtreis (Night Journey)‘, which together attracted over 300,000 visitors. The autumn exhibitions focusing on Donas and René Magritte also performed remarkably well.

“This record confirms the museum’s broad appeal. The KMSKA is firmly anchored in the cultural landscape, both locally and internationally. With a mix of popular favorites, substantively strong exhibitions, and a rich experience, we reach an exceptionally broad audience”, Luk Lemmens, chairman of the board of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, says

From Ensor to Hans Op de Beeck: public favorites from different eras

This record year builds on the impressive success of Ensor’s wildest dreams. Beyond Impressionism. The final month in January 2025 alone attracted nearly 60,000 visitors, making the exhibition the most visited since its reopening and laying a solid foundation for the exceptional year. Following this historic high point, contemporary art also confirmed its audience appeal.

The first major exhibition of 2025, ‘Hans Op de Beeck: Nachtreis (Night Journey)’, proved an unprecedented success. The exhibition featuring this internationally renowned contemporary artist attracted more than 250,000 visitors, making it the most visited exhibition by a contemporary artist in Belgium ever. With his tranquil, nocturnal universe, Op de Beeck captivated a diverse audience, both domestic and international.

A strong Modernist autumn

The modernist autumn exhibitions are also performing exceptionally well. Together they have already attracted more than 185,000 visitors, 160,000 of whom in 2025 and over 25,000 in the first weeks of the new year. 

The prestigious exhibition ‘Donas, Archipenko & La Section d’Or: Enchanting Modernism‘ closed last weekend and offered a unique glimpse into international modernism. 

‘Magritte: The Line of Life‘ also continues to attract visitors. Until 22 February, visitors can immerse themselves in the unique lecture Magritte gave at the KMSKA in 1938. Using AI technology, you can hear Magritte explain in his own words how he arrived at his iconic visual language. You can’t get any closer to Magritte.

Even outside of the major exhibitions, peak times remain important crowd pullers. The Christmas holidays were once again a hit, with more than 40,000 visitors.

“This record year is no fluke, but the result of a well-thought-out, broad program that appeals to a diverse audience. Visitors come for major exhibitions, but keep coming back for the collection, the Thursday evening nocturnes, and our public outreach activities throughout the year. The confidence of more than half a million visitors reinforces our ambition and demonstrates that the public has truly embraced the KMSKA”, Carmen Willems, General Director of the KMSKA, says

2026: A focus on iInternational top artists

After this exceptional year, the KMSKA is looking ambitiously ahead. In 2026, the museum will launch a strong international exhibition program featuring artists such as Antony Gormley, Philip Aguirre y Otegui, and Ossip Zadkine, supplemented by intimate presentations in the print room, public projects for all ages, live restorations, and the regular Thursday evening nocturnes of KMSKA LAAT. Discover the full program here.

“With this prospect, the KMSKA confirms its role as a vibrant, internationally oriented museum where top-quality art, research, and public experience go hand in hand.”

On tourism

• ​Visit Antwerp in a day or two.
• Antwerp hoteliers see strong year-end but brace for difficult 2026 as average room rates come under pressure.
• Tourism Flanders tightens Airbnb rules to protect housing for singles.
• Brussels shows strong tourism stats as it’s the leading city in the world for international meetings.
• Flanders continues post-pandemic tourism revival with the help of its beers.
• City of Antwerp prepares crackdown on Airbnb growth amid complaints in Sint-Andries.
• ANTWERP SUMMER 2025 | 2.9 million day-trippers and 552,161 overnight stays.
• INDIA | Skyscanner sees rise of ‘shared experiences’ as travel trend.
• BELGIUM | Flight shame? Airports break records during 2025 summer season.
• Belgium sees record number of overnight stays via online platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.
• Antwerp 5th on 2025 Happy City Index.
• Flanders highlights Castles of the Brussels Green Belt.
• Tourism Flanders to tackle illegal Airbnb accommodations amidst housing shortage reality.
• Belgians choose safety, sustainability and convenience for summer travel: climate change, geopolitical instability and flight convenience shape 2025 holiday trends.
• OVERTOURISM | Alternatives for Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Santorini, Paris, Dubrovnik, London and Rome?.
• Belgians book Asia, vintage travel and boutique hotels for spring and summer 2025.
• There’s more than one way to enjoy a cruise.
• SOLO TRAVEL | More expensive, but also some advantages.
• Flanders updates star classification for hotels.
• OPINION | Travelling on a package holiday.
• Are there too many hotels in Antwerp?.
• Antwerp number 1 of 40 most exciting cities to visit in 2024.
• CLIMATE CHANGE & TRAVEL | Is Belgium ready to be the Spain and Italy of the future?.
• Flanders’ art cities residents still proud of their city, but highlight drawbacks of tourism more
• Antwerp hotel industry demands stricter rules and enforcement for Airbnb as business tourism is not recovering.
• Belgians make 4.5 million day trips to Antwerp every year.
• The Major Flaws of domestic tourism in Belgium.
• Discovering Belgium and the Netherlands in COVID times.

Art and museums in Antwerp

• Antwerp’s municipal museums surpass 2 million visitors in 2025.
• ANTWERP | KMSKA schedules ambitious exhibition programme for 2026, featuring international masters such as Antony Gormley, Philip Aguirre y Otegui and Ossip Zadkine.
• Museums of the City of Antwerp look ahead to 2026.
• ANTWERP | ‘Urban Legends’: three young makers take over Museum Mayer van den Bergh on 29 November, 6 December and 29 January.
• ANTWERP | ‘Suske & Wiske and the Visual Arts’: M HKA shows how a comic strip series Shapes the collective memory.
• REVIEW | ‘La ligne de vie’ René Magritte exhibition at Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).
• REVIEW | ‘Universal Tongue’, on dance, at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) until 4 January 2026.
• 2028 to be Music Year in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Flemish government cancels €130 million new museum building for M HKA in Antwerp.
• MOMU | ‘GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between’, 27 September 2025 to 1 February 2026.
• ANTWERP | Museum Plantin-Moretus highlights 300 years of women’s stories in ‘Women’s Business / Business Women’.
• ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh opens exhibition ‘Public Favourites’, from Mad Meg to Delft Blue, look at art through other people’s eyes.
• ANTWERP | Middelheim Museum celebrates 75 years with a summer full of new ways to experience the art park.
• ANTWERP | ‘Compassion’ in the MAS: the many faces of compassion.
• 2025 at the museums of Antwerp.
• 2025 at Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA): René Magritte, Marthe Donas, Panamarenko, Hans Op de Beeck.
• ANTWERP | Graphics Museum De Reede ft. Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Félicien Rops and Albrecht Dürer.
• ANTWERP | Rubens Experience and Rubens Garden at Rubenshuis.
• ANTWERP | Innovations in the Middelheim Museum provide a completely new visitor experience.
• A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
• Red Star Line Museum.
• Paleis op de Meir. 
• DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
• ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.