From 13 June 2025, visitors will be able to admire several works from the King Baudouin Foundation’s collection in new rooms at the Art & History Museum in Brussels. These spaces feature masterpieces of the 19th century as well as from the major artistic movements of Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

The new rooms will provide visitors with a captivating immersion into the aesthetic trends that shaped the history of design in Belgium and beyond.

Iconic works

The first room features Art Nouveau, a style that first appeared in Belgium around 1890, as well as Art Deco, which blossomed from the time of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Art in Paris. In this space, visitors can discover iconic pieces by Victor Horta, Philippe and Marcel Wolfers, Henry van de Velde, Charles Samuel, George Morren, Joseph Coosemans, Léon Sneyers, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, Egide Rombaux, François Hoosemans, Charles Catteau and many others. Several of these works were acquired by the King Baudouin Foundation at the specific request of the Art & History Museum. The King Baudouin Foundation’s collection includes numerous works created by Belgian artists working during the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. This is also thanks to patrons of the Foundation who had expressed a wish for their philanthropic efforts to be devoted to safeguarding significant parts of our heritage.

Count Thierry de Looz-Corswarem’s collection

The second of the Museum’s new rooms, which features 19th century decorative arts, houses some truly exceptional treasures, including pieces from the collection of Count Thierry de Looz-Corswarem. This generous patron donated his collection of European decorative arts to the King Baudouin Foundation in 2015.