Antwerp's fine arts museum welcomes record number of visitors
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) welcomed a total of 570,000 visitors last year, which is a new record. The exhibition Nocturnal Journey by Belgian contemporary artist Hans Op de Beeck and the autumn exhibitions on Donas and Magritte attracted large crowds.
The previous visitor record for the KMSKA dates from 2023, the first year after the museum reopened following years of renovation. 2025 got off to a strong start with the last weeks of the James Ensor exhibition In Your Wildest Dreams. The experiential journey created by Op de Beeck also turned out to be a big hit, attracting 250,000 visitors.
The autumn was dominated by modernism, with Donas, Archipenko & La Section d'Or: Enchanting Modernism and Magritte: La ligne de vie. The latter is still running. Visitors can immerse themselves in the exceptional lecture Magritte gave at the KMSKA in 1938, and AI technology allows Magritte to explain in his own words how he arrived at his iconic visual language.
“The record confirms the museum's broad appeal,” said KMSKA chair Luk Lemmens. “The KMSKA is firmly anchored in the cultural landscape, both locally and internationally. With a mix of big crowd-pleasers, substantively strong exhibitions and a wealth of experiences, we reach an exceptionally broad audience.”
This year, the KMSKA hopes to continue this success with exhibitions featuring Antony Gormley, Philip Aguirre y Otegui and Ossip Zadkine, supplemented by smaller presentations in the print room, public projects for young and old, live restorations and the regular Thursday night openings.
#FlandersNewsService | Queen Mathilde visits the Nocturnal Journey exhibition at the KMSKA © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
Related news
