The Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp
The Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, inaugurated in 1890, has a long history of origin, with two design competitions (1877-1879), a study trip in 1883 to museums abroad, and the construction process that began in 1884 but was not completed until 1892. The monumental building responded to the need to house the important art collection kept at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. This collection dated back to the local Guild of St. Luke, founded before 1453, and the Antwerp Academy, founded in 1663, and had expanded considerably over the centuries.
This lecture presents both local and international dimensions and functions of the museum. For the urban development of Antwerp, the building represented an important component. It was designed as the central point of a city district planned since 1874, the South. Moreover, it formed part of a chain of core buildings that served to transform Antwerp in the second half of the 19th century into a modern city with international allure, equipped with the necessary infrastructure for a bourgeois public. This dimension was already present during the design process, as illustrated by the aforementioned study trip.
The concept of the building raises fundamental questions that will be adressed in this paper: did the museum meet the expectations of the urban planning of the new district, and to what extent were the initial needs of the museum and its collection reconciled with the urban function of the building? Moreover, regarding the design of its two architects, Jean Jacques Winders (1849-1936) and Frans Van Dijk (1853-1939): to what extent did the internationally prevailing architecture concept for museums have a compelling influence on the design process, taking into account the divergent artistic preferences of the two architects?
Stefaan Grieten (Flanders Architecture Institute) is collection manger at the Flanders Architecture Institute. He studied art history at KU Leuven and made his PhD at KU Leuven on the material culture of Erard de La Marck, Prince-Bishop of Liège. His research topics include iconographic themes in South Netherlandish art, cross-culturalism in Western architecture and art, art nouveau in Antwerp and architectural heritage.
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