Bruxelles 1900

By the end of the 19th century, Brussels was much more than just a thriving capital city. As a young nation buoyed by remarkable economic growth, Belgium was making the arts a powerful driving force for cultural expression. With Brussels 1900, on display from 10 November 2026 to 25 April 2027, the Petit Palais invites visitors to rediscover this period when painters, architects, writers, interior designers and craftspeople were devising new ways of creating and conceiving the world. For the first time in France, painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, jewellery, the decorative arts and fashion come together in a single exhibition, revealing the extraordinary vitality of an artistic scene whose influence extends far beyond Belgium’s borders.

A creative Belgian capital caught between light and contradictions

From the 1880s onwards, Brussels became a major centre of artistic experimentation in Europe. Through the artistic circles of L’Essor, Les XX and later La Libre Esthétique, figures such as James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, Émile Verhaeren and Théo Van Rysselberghe exchanged ideas with Cézanne, Gauguin and Rodin. Victor Horta’s posters and furniture, Philippe Wolfers’ jewellery and Léon Frédéric’s monumental triptychs bear witness to this spirit of innovation, in which different disciplines interacted freely. But the exhibition also sheds light on the more complex context of this era, marked by the colonial ambitions of Leopold II’s reign and the debates they were already provoking. Amidst artistic aspirations, national self-assertion and historical tensions, Brussels 1900 reveals a capital city undergoing profound transformation, whose energy continues to illuminate European cultural history.

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