The collection of the current 'Museum of Deinze and the Leie Region' consists—as intended at its founding—exclusively of works by artists who lived and/or worked in the Leie region.
The Mudel comprises two sections: a visual arts collection and a folklore section, which also focuses on archaeological finds and the history of local industry.
From the last quarter of the 19th century onward, the Leie region has exerted a great attraction on artists. The museum offers a chronological overview of their production, allowing you to clearly follow the evolution of these movements. The collection includes works by renowned artists such as Emile Claus, Albert Saverys, Constant Permeke, George Minne, Gustave Van De Woestijne, and Roger Raveel.
In the folklore section of the museum, you can learn more about the two industries that dominated economic life in Deinze. In the late 1840s, Joseph Ricard, a businessman from Lyon, established a silk weaving mill in Deinze: the immediate launch of an industry that would bring great prosperity to the city until the rise of artificial silk in the 1920s.
At the end of the 19th century, a completely new industry emerged in Deinze: the production of prams and toys. The Torck company, in particular, enjoyed considerable fame both at home and abroad for its pedal cars: child-sized replicas of car models powered by pedals. Torck built very high-quality toys using expensive materials like wood and steel. The rise of cheaper plastic proved detrimental to the company, forcing it to close in 1971.