Van Buuren Museum & Gardens
{{Short description|Museum of European artworks from 15th to 19th century, in Brussels, Belgium}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Van Buuren Museum & Gardens
| native_name = {{unbulleted list|{{native name|fr|Musée & Jardins van Buuren}}|{{native name|nl|Van Buuren Museum & Tuinen}}}}
| alternate_names = Van Buuren House
| image = Museum van Buuren Brussels Belgium.jpg
| alt = View of the Van Buuren Museum from the garden
| caption = View of the Van Buuren Museum from the garden
| building_type = Private house
| architectural_style = {{Flatlist|
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| client = David and Alice Van Buuren
| owner = David and Alice Van Buuren foundation
| current_tenants =
| address = {{lang|fr|Avenue Léo Errera|italic=no}} / {{lang|nl|Léo Erreralaan|italic=no}} 41
| location_town = 1180 Uccle, Brussels-Capital Region
| location_country = Belgium
| coordinates = {{coord|50|48|36.18|N|4|21|13.73|E|type:landmark_scale:1000_region:BE|display=inline,title}}
| start_date = {{start date|1924}}
| completion_date = {{end date|1928}}
| inauguration_date =
| renovation_date = 2012, 2013
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| website = {{URL|www.museumvanbuuren.be/en}}
| references = {{sfn|Anspach|2007}}
}}
The Van Buuren Museum & Gardens ({{langx|fr|Musée & Jardins van Buuren}}; {{langx|nl|Van Buuren Museum & Tuinen}}) are a former private house with extensive gardens, now a museum and park in Uccle, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium.
The house was built from 1924 to 1928, in the Amsterdam School style, for the banker and art collector David Van Buuren and his wife Alice Piette. It was decorated by both of them as a Gesamtkunstwerk to present their art collection, which extends from the 15th to the 20th century, in a rich Art Deco interior. The house is surrounded by gardens designed by the landscape architects Jules Buyssens in 1924 and {{ill|René Pechère|fr|René Pechère}} in 1968–1970.
The private house became a museum in 1975 according to Alice Van Buuren's will. It was declared a National Heritage Site in 2001.{{sfn|Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|2001|p=3}}
History
David Van Buuren (1886–1955) was born into a Jewish family in Gouda, Netherlands.{{sfn|Swimberghe|2001|p=115}} He settled in Brussels in 1909 to become an important private banker. He married the Belgian Alice Piette (1890–1973) in 1922. David Van Buuren asked his nephew and architect Johan Franco to start working on the plan for his future house in Brussels.{{sfn|Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|2001|p=7}} From 1924 to 1928, the Van Buurens commissioned the architects Léon Govaerts and Alexis Van Vaerenbergh to build their house on Léo Errera Avenue in Uccle following Franco's sketches.{{sfn|Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|2001|p=7}}{{harvnb|Carez|1996|p=24}}
From 1928 to 1970, the Van Buurens hosted people such as Raoul Dufy, Jacques Prévert, René Lalique, Sergei Diaghilev, Erik Satie, René Magritte and David Ben-Gurion. The private house became a museum in 1975 according to the testament of Alice Van Buuren.{{Cite web |title=House |url=https://www.museumvanbuuren.be/en/house/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Van Buuren Museum |language=en-GB}}
House
Built in 1928 by Léon Emmanuel Govaerts and Alexis Van Vaerenbergh, the house features exterior architecture typical of the Amsterdam School, while the interior decoration constitutes a unique Art Deco ensemble created by Belgian, French and Dutch interior designers. The Van Buuren couple had turned their villa into a "living conservatory", where rare furniture, carpets, stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings by international masters remain in place, in the intimacy of a private "house of memory", which became a museum in 1975 under Alice Van Buuren's will,Pierre Groppo, La collectionneuse, Vanity Fair, no. 41, November 2016, p. 126–128 and which comprises a series of rooms that can be visited: the vestibule, the cloakroom, the hall and the staircase, the cozy corner, the music room, the black living room, the dining room, the study and the studio.
"This residence combines the warmth of a home—that of the banker and patron David Van Buuren and his wife—with the richness of a museum."{{Cite web |title=Van Buuren Museum & Gardens |url=https://www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/museums/van-buuren-museum-and-gardens |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Brussels Museums |language=en}}
File:Museum Van Buuren 04.jpg|Hall and staircase
File:Museum Van Buuren 03.jpg|Living room
File:Museum Van Buuren 10.jpg|Dining room
File:Museum Van Buuren 07.jpg|Bathroom
Collections
File:Fall of Icarus - Brueghel -Museum van Buuren.jpg, {{circa|1590–95}}, oil on wood ({{convert|63|×|90|cm|abbr=on}}), circle of Peter Bruegel the Elder, Museum van Buuren, Brussels, Belgium]]
David Van Buuren decorated his house with paintings by James Ensor, Joachim Patinir, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hercules Seghers, Pieter Jansz Saenredam, Tsuguharu Foujita, Kees van Dongen, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Fantin-Latour, Rik Wouters, Gustave De Smet, Xavier Mellery en Constant Permeke. David was the patron of the expressionist painter Gustave van de Woestijne. Van Buurens collections consists of 32 paintings of Van de Woestijne.{{Cite web |title=Works |url=https://www.museumvanbuuren.be/en/works/ |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Van Buuren Museum |language=en-GB}}
The living room is decorated with a rich collection of modernist carpets by the Dutch designer Jaap Gidding,{{sfn|Day|2002|p={{page needed|date=February 2022}}}} and a grand piano made of rosewood designed by Julius Blüthner.{{sfn|Conseil de la Musique de la Communauté Française de Belgique|1992|p=169-170}} Jan Eisenloeffel designed the {{convert|500|kg|abbr=on}} Art Deco chandelier in the entrance hall.{{sfn|Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|2001|p=4}}{{sfn|Swimberghe|2001|p=115}}{{cite journal|title=Aus liebe zu den künsten|journal=Architectural Digest|url=http://www.deimel-wittmar.de/files/ad/AD_05_08_van_Buuren_Br%C3%BCssel.pdf|date=May 2008|language=de}}
On 16 July 2013, the paintings Shrimps and Shells by James Ensor, The Thinker by Kees Van Dongen, and eight small works by old masters were stolen.{{cite web |url=http://newsoftheartworld.com/lightning-raid-on-the-van-buuren-museum/?lang=en |title=Lightning raid on the van Buuren museum |work=News of the Art World |date=23 July 2013 |access-date=21 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714062656/http://newsoftheartworld.com/lightning-raid-on-the-van-buuren-museum/?lang=en |archive-date=2014-07-14}}{{cite web |title=Vol dans un musée de Bruxelles |work=Le Monde |date=16 July 2013|language=fr|access-date=21 August 2013 |url= http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/07/16/vol-dans-un-musee-de-bruxelles_3448620_3246.html}}
Gardens
The gardens, begun in 1924, originally covered {{convert|26|a|abbr=on}} and now cover {{convert|1.5|ha|abbr=on}}. They are divided into three parts. The first, and oldest, is a Picturesque Garden by the landscape architect Jules Buyssens that recalls the spirit of the Roaring Twenties and shows the geometrical ideas of Art Deco. The second, the Labyrinth, is inspired by the Song of Solomon and in 1968 was decorated with seven sculptures by the sculptor André Willequet. The third, Garden of the Hearts, was designed by the landscape designer {{ill|René Pechère|fr|René Pechère}} in 1970 and brings a touch of romanticism to the park. There is a great harmony of style and time between the Buyssens garden and the Art Deco house. Alice considered René Pechère's gardens, added 45 years later, as a complement of her villa. The gardens can be visited year-round.{{harvnb|Taylor|2006|p=42}}{{harvnb|Pechère|1987|p=}}{{harvnb|Pechère|2008|p=192}}
In 2015, the restoration of the gardens (carried out in stages in 2009–2012 and 2018–2019) received the Europa Nostra Award for European cultural heritage.{{Cite news|newspaper=La Libre|title=Prestigieuse reconnaissance pour les jardins van Buuren|author=Guy Duplat|date=30 August 2023}} In 2023, they became the first Belgian site to be included in the European Route of Historic Gardens.{{Cite web|title=Brussels park first in Belgium to be included in prestigious cultural route |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/666895/brussels-park-first-in-belgium-to-be-included-in-prestigious-cultural-route |date=30 August 2023 |author=Lauren Walker| website=Brussels Times}}
File:Museum Van Buuren 21.jpg|A view of the house through part of the restored garden (2019)
File:Uccle Jardin secret de la Villa Van Buuren - panoramio.jpg|Garden of the Hearts by René Pechère
See also
{{Portal|Belgium}}
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
{{Refbegin|30em}}
- {{cite web|title=Arrêté du gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale classant comme monument la totalité de la villa - musée David et Alice van Buuren y compris du mobilier |url=http://www.monument.irisnet.be/images/REGISTRE/AG/028_016.pdf|access-date=18 August 2013|author=Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|language=fr|date=28 June 2001}}
- {{cite book|last=Carez|first=Christian |title=Bruxelles Art Déco: 1920–1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eVPAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2013-08-19|year=1996|publisher=Éd. Norma |language=fr |isbn=978-2-909283-26-5 |page=24 }}
- {{cite book|last1=Lechien-Durant|first1=Françoise|last2=Eeckhout|first2=Paul |title=Musée David & Alice van Buuren: maison de mémoire|year=1995|publisher=Racine|location=Bruxelles|isbn=9782873860431|language=fr}}
- {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Patrick|title=The Oxford Companion to the Garden|year=2006|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780198662556|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_v1y8}}
- {{cite book|last=Swimberghe|first=Piet|title=Vivre à Bruxelles|year=1997|publisher=Lannoo |isbn=9020949780 |pages=140–145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4oLFOHuII0C&pg=PA140|access-date=4 September 2011|language=fr}}
- {{cite book|title=Les instruments de musique à Bruxelles et en Wallonie: inventaire descriptif|year=1992 |publisher=Mardaga|location=Liège |isbn=9782870094891|pages=169–170|author=Conseil de la Musique de la Communauté Française de Belgique|language=fr|chapter=Musée David et Alice van Buuren - piano Blüthner |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOYVCTYbRukC&pg=PA169|access-date=4 September 2011}}
- {{cite book|last=Day|first=Susan|title=Art deco and modernist carpets|year=2002|publisher=Chronicle Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=9780811836135}}
- {{cite book|first=René |last=Pechère|title=Jardins dessinés: grammaire des jardins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WpOAAAAYAAJ|access-date=17 August 2013|year=1987|publisher=Atelier d'art urbain}}
- {{cite book|first=Jean-Claude |last=Pechère|title=Le soleil et l' ombre|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P21JvALvPNgC&pg=PA163|access-date=18 August 2013|year=2008|publisher=Lannoo Uitgeverij|isbn=978-2-87386-548-1|pages=159–164|chapter=Le labyrinthe d'Alice van Buuren}}
- {{cite book|last1=Swimberghe|first1=Piet|title=Belgique Vue de L'interieur|year=2001|publisher=Racine |isbn=9789020945652|pages=114–119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBllqBbdEZAC&dq=%22van%20buuren%22%20woestijne&pg=PA115|access-date=4 September 2011|language=fr}}
- {{cite book|last=Anspach|first=Isabelle|title=Van Buuren musée et jardins|publisher=Fonds Mercator|location=Brussels|year=2007|isbn=978-90-6153-770-0}}
{{Refend}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Museum Van Buuren}}
- {{Official|www.museumvanbuuren.be/en}}
- {{cite web |url= http://joellemagazine.com/van-buren/2310840 |title=Van Buuren - Joelle Magazine |first=Joelle |last=Maslaton Oster|work=joellemagazine.com |date=5 December 2009|access-date=18 August 2013}}
- {{cite web |url= https://www.europeanhistoricgardens.eu/en/van-buuren-gardens |title=Van Buuren Gardens |work=European Route of Historic Gardens |year=2023 |access-date=22 October 2023|language=en}}
{{Museums and galleries in Brussels}}{{Authority control}}
Category:Art museums and galleries in Brussels
Category:Protected heritage sites in Brussels
Category:Historic house museums in Belgium
Category:Art Deco architecture in Belgium