Triennial salons of Brussels (FSTB)

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Archives des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique

Creator/accumulator:: Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique; Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België

Scope and content:: This fonds contains, for each salon, documents related to the organisation of the salon, the exhibitors and refused artists, the reception and admission of exhibits, the location, opening and closing of the show and the organised ceremonies, the published catalogue, publicity, sales, lotteries, awards, insurance and transport of artworks. The fonds is arranged by salon, in chronological order. We notably find, for the salon held in 1903, in box 4 (“refused works”) a plaster bust of Ferdinand Schirren.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique / Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium) was created by virtue of the consular decree of 14 Fructidor year IX, better known as the Chaptal decree. The museum opened to the public two years later and Guillaume Bosschaert was its first curator. The museum, owned by the city of Brussels since 1811, was ceded to the newly created Belgian state according to the agreement of 31 December 1842. In 1907 the first ‘society of friends’ was created: les Amis des Musées royaux de l’État à Bruxelles, counting among its members many dignitaries and personalities of the Jewish financial and industrial elite, including baron Léon Cassel, Léon Lambert, Franz Philippson and Jules Philippson. In 1919, after the First World War, the Museum was directed by chief curator Hippolyte Fierens-Gevaert. Today, the collections of the MRBAB include over 20000 works of art. Today, the MRBAB comprises the Old Masters Museum, the Modern Museum, the Wiertz Museum, Meunier Museum, Magritte Museum and the Fin-de-Siècle Museum. (http://www.fine-arts-museum.be; M. van Kalck (ed.), Les Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Deux siècles d’histoire, Bruxelles, éd. Dexia Banque et Racine, 2003.)

Access, restrictions:: Consultation is possible by appointment with the archivist of the MRBAB.

Finding aids:: M. van Kalck, Inventaire du fonds Salons triennaux de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, KMSKB-MRBAB. The inventory is available at the Archives department of the MRBAB.