Experience

ANTWERP | KMSKA explores Ossip Zadkine’s ties to Belgium in new exhibition

Posted by Timothy on

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) will explore the Belgian connections of sculptor Ossip Zadkine in a new exhibition opening on 31 October 2026. ‘Ossip Zadkine and Belgium‘ runs until 18 April 2027, bringing together works by the artist, his wife Valentine Prax and Belgian contemporaries and pupils.

Born in Vitebsk, in what is now Belarus, in 1888, Zadkine became a leading figure in modern sculpture. The Russian-born French artist worked across sculpture, painting and printmaking, developing an expressive style influenced by Cubism. He spent much of his career in Paris, where he became part of the international avant-garde, but Belgium played an important role in his early recognition and later career.

“Les Belges étaient mes premiers amateurs” — “The Belgians were my first admirers” — Zadkine wrote. In 1933, he held his first retrospective not in France but in Brussels, at the Palace of Fine Arts, now BOZAR.

From Brussels to Middelheim

Zadkine’s connection with Belgium continued after World War II. Having sought refuge in the United States during the war because he was Jewish, he returned to Europe with the help of an Antwerp shipowner from the Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), who arranged for his work to be transported from New York.

After participating in the first Middelheim Biennale, Zadkine proposed to Antwerp mayor Lode Craeybeckx the idea of a permanent open-air sculpture exhibition. He subsequently became an adviser to the newly established Middelheim Museum, alongside fellow sculptor Henry Moore. The museum celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2025.

Zadkine was a prolific artist. His output includes more than 600 sculptures, over 750 gouaches and drawings, and around 200 lithographs and etchings.

A multifaceted sculptor

The exhibition presents this varied body of work alongside pieces by Prax and Belgian artists associated with Zadkine. KMSKA owns nine works by the sculptor, including ‘The Misery of Job‘, which he donated to the museum himself.

Through expressive forms and an emphasis on inner strength and emotion, Zadkine developed a distinctive visual language that helped establish his place in 20th-century sculpture.

‘Ossip Zadkine and Belgium’ is organised in collaboration with the Musée Zadkine, part of Paris Musées.

The exhibition runs from 31 October 2026 to 18 April 2027. Tickets are available through the KMSKA website.

Art and museums in Antwerp

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