SMAK - MUNICIPAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Museum of contemporary art presenting temporary exhibitions and a permanent collection as well as artists' works.
Under the rigorous direction of Jan Hoet, one of Europe's most renowned curators, this museum has become a must in the country for lovers of contemporary art. All the main artistic trends since 1945 are represented here. The museum owes its high reputation to the quality of its temporary exhibitions, which complement the (rotating) permanent collection. These include works by Beuys, Schütte, Muñoz, Panamarenko, Bacon, Warhol..
One space is reserved entirely for the collection of the Matthys-Colle Foundation, part of which the museum has been managing since 2020. A return to our roots, in a way, since Roger Matthys, together with Karel Geirlandt, created the Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (V.M.H.K.), the forerunner of the Friends of the S.M.A.K. association. Among the stars of this collection, with its strong focus on conceptual art, is Tom Wesselmann 's Great American Nude # 72 . As the collection is extensive, the works on display are regularly changed according to the theme (on our visit, it was an imaginary portrait of Marc De Dock, Roger Matthys' successor).
Another separate space, the Broodthaerskabinet, is dedicated exclusively to Marcel Broodthaers, probably the most influential Belgian artist of the 20th century after Magritte. One of the works on display, Le Pense-bête, marks the transition from poet to artist. And, of course, there's one of his favorite pieces: the large-format Casserole de moules.
