Magritte Museum

The Musée Magritte Museum is a museum devoted entirely to René Magritte (1898-1967), installed in the Hôtel Altenloh on the Place Royale and run by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. It opened on 2 June 2009, the result of a plan to redistribute the Museums' modern collection into thematic buildings; the Musée Fin-de-Siècle Museum followed in 2013. The operator calls it the largest Magritte collection in the world and the international reference centre for his work. Tuesday–Friday 10:00–17:00; Saturday–Sunday 11:00–18:00; closed Monday.

The route is chronological and runs downwards: a lift takes visitors to the top floor and the museum is walked from level 3 to level 1, on stairs unless staff are asked to open the lift again. Level 3 covers 1898 to 1929 — the Constructivist beginnings, the 7 Arts circle, the encounter with de Chirico and the first Surrealist canvases — with themed showcases drawn from the Museums' Surrealist archive: historic magazines, tracts and letters involving E.L.T.

Ninety minutes is the figure recorded on this page, and it is an inference rather than an operator recommendation: the Royal Museums publish no suggested length for a self-guided visit of the Magritte Museum, but their own English-language guided tour of it runs from 16:00 to 17:30, which is an hour and a half in the rooms with a guide setting the pace. Add time before the rooms rather than after them. General adult admission to the Magritte Museum is €13.

The museum opens Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00 and at weekends from 11:00 to 18:00. Monday is the closed day, and the Museums also close on 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November and 25 December. Tuesday–Friday 10:00–17:00; Saturday–Sunday 11:00–18:00; closed Monday. The museum is at Place Royale/Koningsplein 2. Brussels Central station is about a five-minute walk away. Metro lines 1 and 5 serve Gare Centrale; Parc is another nearby stop. Trams 92 and 93 stop at Royale. Buses 33, 38, 71, and 95 stop at Royale; buses 29, 63, 65, and 66 stop at Parc or Gare Centrale.

Admission to the Magritte Museum is €13 for an adult. It is €10 for visitors over 65 and for adults in a group of at least fifteen, and €5 for young people aged 18 to 25, for registered jobseekers and for integration-income beneficiaries. A combined ticket with the Old Masters Museum is €20, against €13 for either alone. General adult admission to the Magritte Museum is €13. The accessible entrance for the Magritte Museum is at Place Royale/Koningsplein 2. All visitor galleries are accessible to visitors with reduced mobility. Manual and electric wheelchairs are permitted; mobility scooters are not permitted.

The museum is at Place Royale 2, at the top of the hill between the Old Masters Museum and the royal quarter, and no car is needed to reach it. Brussels Central station is the nearest railway station and about a five-minute walk. The museum is at Place Royale/Koningsplein 2. Brussels Central station is about a five-minute walk away. Metro lines 1 and 5 serve Gare Centrale; Parc is another nearby stop. Trams 92 and 93 stop at Royale. Buses 33, 38, 71, and 95 stop at Royale; buses 29, 63, 65, and 66 stop at Parc or Gare Centrale.

Strollers and pushchairs of any kind are not allowed inside; frontal baby carriers are, which matters if the visit is being planned around a small child. Bags go to the cloakroom, which is free, and the operator asks that belongings be left there; staff may ask a bag to be opened and may refuse anything they judge a risk. The accessible entrance for the Magritte Museum is at Place Royale/Koningsplein 2. Manual and electric wheelchairs are permitted; mobility scooters are not permitted. A wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge on site.

Photography is allowed. A small number of works may not be photographed at the request of the collectors who lent them, and those are marked with a pictogram beside the label, so the rule is readable in the room rather than a matter of guesswork. Flash is strictly prohibited, and so are tripods and selfie sticks — a firm limit, because the galleries are dark by design. A wheelchair can be borrowed free of charge on site. An accessible toilet is available on level -2. Certified guide dogs are welcome.