Belgian romantic’s spectacular furor
The Musée Wiertz Museum (currently closed) is dedicated to the Belgian Romantic painter, sculptor and writer Antoine Wiertz. Located in his former home and studio, a grandiose space Wiertz designed himself, the museum presents a significant collection of the artist’s frequently monumental paintings, portraits and self-portraits — dramatic works tinged with horror and eroticism that referenced masters including Rubens, Michelangelo and Raphael. Highlights include the eight-meter-long “Greeks and Trojans Fighting over the Body of Patroclus,” and possibly his best-known painting, “The Two Young Girls (La belle Rosine),” a poignant face-off between life and death. The museum became part of Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in 1868. Currently closed for renovations to its entrance, the museum is planned to reopen in the summer of 2025.
