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Collection pavilion

In the collection pavilion, you can (re)discover hidden works of art from the collection of Middelheim Museum. It is designed as an open depot with a functional, changeable layout where the public can become acquainted with unknown or lesser-known works of art from the museum’s collection.

The collection pavilion is temporarily closed; we are working on a new display.

 

Visit the collection pavilion

Make your visit to the collection pavilion as contactless as possible. You can consult these tools on your smartphone:

Download the floor plan (pdf) here.

Click here to read the COVID-19 measures in the Middelheim Museum

 

Why a new collection pavilion?

Today, Middelheim Museum is best known for its outdoor collection in the art park. But there is also a hidden collection: just over 80% of the works of art are stored in depots, inaccessible to visitors. These works are less suitable, or sometimes unsuitable, for presentation in the park, but they have been acquired by the museum in accordance with its original mission: to provide an international overview of modern sculpture, from its great precursors at the end of the nineteenth century to the present. There are also supporting collections with models, drawings and prints, media art and photography. And there are sculptures that were meant for display outdoors but turned out to be more suitable for indoors.

 

Middelheim Museum unpacks

Because the existing pavilions in the park do not offer the right storage conditions for presenting these often vulnerable works for a long period of time, and because the museum wants to offer maximum access to the collections in all their diversity, it has transformed one such closed repository into an open depot. There, an initial and often surprising selection of artworks has been unpacked for the public. The museum invites the visitor to become acquainted with this “sleeping” collection and continue to discover its new perspectives in the future. 

The story of the new collection pavilion is multifaceted. Read more about the pavilion itself, the depot collections, how the artworks were selected and the first individual artwork in focus. 

The building

Stéphane Beel’s closed depot building was converted into a public space that strengthens the relationship between art, architecture and nature.

The depot collections

Middelheim Museum has collected many works that are not suited to or are less suitable for presentation in the park and therefore remain largely hidden.

The selection

The artworks in the collection pavilion were selected not only for their art-historical value, but on the basis of seven different criteria.

Mensen in het collectiepaviljoen

Work of art in focus

At the back of the collection pavilion, one work occupies the spotlight. The aim is to discover, together with the public, how works of art collect additional meanings and sometimes evolve physically.

Word vriend van het museum