Independent Collectors

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

The industrialist couple Jules and Irma Dhondt-Dhaenens began collecting art in the 1920s

Zes permanente kunstwerken at Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Zes permanente kunstwerken at Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium

Belgium was just as divided then as it is today, which is why the couple focused almost exclusively on Flemish artists from 1880 to 1950, including James Ensor and Frits Van den Berghe. Later the collector couple decided to have a museum built to house their collection – Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Not in Brussels or Ghent, but in the countryside at Deurle, a beautifully located village on the river Leie and close to the artist colony Sint-Martens-Latem.

The bright white, flatroofed modernistic structure was opened in 1968. Today the museum continues to sharpen its contemporary profile with around eight annual exhibitions devoted to such international artists as Thomas Hirschhorn, Karla Black, Wade Guyton, Julie Mehretu, Jessica Rankin, Ryan Gander, Monika Sosnowska, Richard Aldrich, and Charline von Heyl.

On Sunday, 5 September, 2021 after a six month renovtion period, the landscape location reopened. To mark this occasion, MDD presented a display of six permanent interventions created in response to its architecture. Zes permanente kunstwerken spans the museum’s history from David Tremlett’s fully uncovered 1990 wall drawing and Niele Toroni’s paintings above MDD’s doors from 2007, to Kelly Schacht’s re-interpretation of her 2008 installation in the museum’s lobby and three new site-specific projects by Lieve D’hondt, Lili Dujourie, and Bjarne Melgaard.

As for the Sculpture Garden, a new addition by Rirkrit Tiravanija has been made, which contributes the second in an annual series of temporary commissions for the museum garden.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens is featured in the BMW ART GUIDE by INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS.

For more information visit Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens.

Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Sculpture Garden, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Sculpture Garden, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2018 (the infinite dimensions of smallness), 2018-2021 in the Sculpture Garden at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Courtesy van de kunstenaar en Galerie Chantal Crousel
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2018 (the infinite dimensions of smallness), 2018-2021 in the Sculpture Garden at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Courtesy van de kunstenaar en Galerie Chantal Crousel
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2018 (the infinite dimensions of smallness), 2018-2021 in the Sculpture Garden at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Courtesy van de kunstenaar en Galerie Chantal Crousel
Rirkrit Tiravanija, untitled 2018 (the infinite dimensions of smallness), 2018-2021 in the Sculpture Garden at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens. Courtesy van de kunstenaar en Galerie Chantal Crousel
Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium
Zes permanente kunstwerken, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens (MDD), Deurle, Belgium

All images © Rik Vannevel / Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens.

Belgium (27)

Vanhaerents Art Collection

Where the connection between building and collecting is more than metaphorical

Galila Barzilaï

Galila’s P.O.C presents itself as a contemporary curiosity cabinet.

AMEXICA @The Loft

The Family Servais Collection and The Loft present AMEXICA, an exhibition curated by Marisol Rodríguez

Schöne Sentimenten at the MDD

The Belgian Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, situated in the countryside at Deurle, presents an exhibition combining real artworks together with 'absent' ones.

Sun Women

"Sun Women" presents seven artists brought together from external private collections in Riva's exhibition space.

Servais Family Collection – Dérapages & Post-Bruises Imaginaries

The current hang of works from the Servais Family Collection, curated by Dragos Olea, offers a juxtaposition of concern versus hope

The Apartment

Charming presentation of contemporary art in the heart of Brussels.

Christophe Veys

An interview with the collector who owns the “invisible collection”.

Animals

An exhibition detailing the representation of the animal in contemporary art.

Remembering Mwene Mutapa – Exotic Mapping of a Collection

The Brussels-based contemporary art collection marked by a non-Western focus.

Polish Village

For the first time, the collection presents an exhibition entirely dedicated to the American artist Frank Stella.

Collection in Motion

“Our exhibition space does not aim to be an oasis."

Forever Young

The 2016 annual presentation organized by collector Alain Servais in his 900-square-meter loft in Brussels.

A from Animism, Atlas, Adrift[1]

A from Animism, Atlas, Adrift, Algorithmic, Apocryphal, Automatic, Ambiguous, Amnesia, Allegory, Above, Archive, Alien…

Transylvanian Visions

A fervent promoter and collector of Contemporary Romanian Art, with a special focus on the artistic phenomenon of the Cluj School.

Human Figure

Creating a dialogue between contemporary sculptures and works from Oceanic Art

The Power and The Glory

Opening on the eve of the now infamous 2016 US elections, “The Power and The Glory” set out to examine the tension between an artist’s desire to shine and their desire to exist.

Not Really Really

Removed from the material world and undergoing various transformations.

Walter Vanhaerents

A Story About An Island

Machinations at Verbeke

The Verbeke concept presents a private collection and lively program with an experimental spirit and devotion to nature.

Bewogen Beweging

Exhibition at the Verbeke Foundation.

Many Suns & Worlds

The Brussels based Vanhaerents Art Collection is hosting the first solo exhibition of Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno.

From East to West

Located in an old grain factory on the banks of the Campine Canal in Herentals, the Art Center Hugo Voeten represents over 1 700 works that have been collected over a thirty year period.

Break Out!

In 1966, Alighiero Boetti created a trio of sculptures titled “Zig Zag”, consisting of the fabric of a beach chair woven in inside an aluminium cube.

Warhol & Subsequent Effects

Located in a charmingly remodelled former industrial building in the Dansaert district in the heart of Brussels, the Walter Vanhaerents contemporary art collection is presented in biannual exhibitions on three floors.

Charles Riva

The Charles Riva Collection is a carefully curated gathering of contemporary art, mostly by American artists, located in Brussels, Belgium.