Maisons d'art moderne - Private Collections in Belgium / Privéverzamelingen in België 1945-1980

Belgium has often been presented as a country of private collections. Private galleries and cabinets of wonder were important phenomena in the cultural history of the Southern Netherlands. In the twentieth century, too, private collectors played an important part in the Belgian art world.

In Maisons d’art moderne, Tanguy Eeckhout traces the untold history of Belgian collections of modern art, focusing on two generations: the ‘culture generators’ from 1945 to 1965, and the ‘avant-gardists’ who, between 1960 and 1989, entered the international art world in full force, no longer restricting themselves to Belgian borders or traditional media.

Richly illustrated, this book traces the history of sixteen of the largest Belgian collections and collectors and studies the relationship between artists, collections, critics, institutions and the public.