Museum of Fine Arts

The Museum of Fine Arts in Tournai was designed by the Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta.
Inaugurated on June 17, 1928, the building was designed to house the very rich collections bequeathed in 1904 by patron Henri Van Cutsem. The building itself is worth a visit. The beautiful rooms are arranged around a central polygonal hall.
The collections offer the visitor an interesting general look at the history of painting from the 15th century to today.
Includes:
Some masters from the 17th and 18th centuries: Snyders, Rubens, Jordaens, Snyders, Watteau et Piat-Sauvage.
You can admire impressionist works by Manet, Monet, Seurat, Van Gogh.
Belgian artists (Ensor, Claus, de Braekeleer...) and artists from Tournai (Roger de le Pasture, Gallait, Pion, Dumoulin, Bruegel...) were also given an important place.
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The Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai is unique: on the one hand because of its architecture, on the other because of its impressive art collection.
This building is the only museum designed by Victor Horta.
The art treasures are a gift from the Brussels patron Henri Van Cutsem.
Here you will find the only two works by the impressionist artist Manet exhibited in Belgium.
You can also admire works of art by Monet, Seurat and Van Gogh.

Source: VisitTournai

The Tournai Museum of Fine Arts is the only monument designed by Victor Horta intended from the outset to fulfill this function. It is also one of the rare public commissions testifying to the architect's transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco.The museum project was born from the collaboration between patron Henri Van Cutsem, eager to ensure the longevity of his art collection, sculptor Guillaume Charlier, and Victor Horta. The idea was first raised in 1903, but it would not come to fruition until 1928. Its genesis was complex, with successive preliminary projects drawn by the architect and revised to create an increasingly ambitious ensemble, threatening the budget. Work did not begin until 1913, but was suspended for ten years during the First World War. In 1923, Victor Horta took over the project, simplifying his previous project in an effort to save money.The museum, as inaugurated in 1928, consists of a relatively simple exterior, with only a few decorative elements standing out around the entrance porch. This porch is topped by a monumental statue group by Guillaume Charlier. Beyond a vast reception area, one reaches spacious, radiating rooms topped with large glass roofs. These provide original overhead lighting and contrast with the majority of blank walls, which, for budgetary reasons, bear limited decoration.