Archives of Contemporary Art in Belgium ACAB

The Archives of Contemporary Art in Belgium (ACAB) are a documentation and archive centre related to plastic art in Belgium from the second half of the 19th century to the present day.
Its rich collections, closely related to the collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, are composed of artists' personal archives (Emile Claus, Henri Evenepoel, James Ensor, Constantin Meunier, René Magritte, Oscar Jespers, Marcel Broodthaers, Jacques Charlier, Marc Mendelson, Jean-Pierre Ransonnet, ....), and those of artistic circles (Les XX, La Libre Esthetique La Jeune Peinture Belge, ...), journals (Het Overzicht, Variétés, Plus Moins Zéro, ...), galleries (Le Centaur, Apollo, Les Contemporains, MTL, Cogeime, Ad Libitum, Lou Cosyn ...), collectors (Arthur Boite, Max Janlet ...), critics (René Lyr, Léon-Louis Sosset, Luk Lambrecht, ...), and also other figures who played a leading role in the cultural landscape (Paul Haesaerts, Paul-Gustave Van Hecke, Emile Langui ...). Artistic movements such as Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Conceptual Art and Cobra are widely represented.
More than 6,000 documentary files, alongside funds that increase in size each year, contain items of various types: letters, sometimes unpublished manuscripts, personal diaries, travelogues, exhibition guest books, official or accounting documents, photos and negatives, invitation cards, posters, music scores, films and sound archives. A separate section contains more than one million press clippings.
To consult the archives
(subject to availability of seats in the reading room) |
By appointment only The archives will be exceptionally closed on 13 December 2022. |
Research tools |
- Files & Inventories (available in situ) [Archives of Belgian Arts Letters & Documents] - since 2004 (progressive digitalisation) |
Adress |
Rue du Musée/Museumstraat 5 - 1000 Brussels |
CLOSING PERIODS |
20.02 – 26.02.2023 |
Contact |
Véronique Cardon |