And 2026, La Maison des Arts is 200 years old!

Built for a family, in the heart of a hidden garden, La Maison des Arts has become a major place for exchanges around contemporary art in Brussels. To celebrate its 200th anniversary, three exhibitions around the theme of “inhabiting” are planned during the year 2026. In 1826, a family of drapers built a country house. Four generations followed one another there. The house became a castle and welcomed daily life as well as the family's major events, before the municipality of Schaerbeek bought it in 1950. Over time, it became a place for exchanges around contemporary art: La Maison des Arts. For 75 years, the public, whether neighbors or from afar, has discovered its salons, artistic projects, and a hidden garden. Aged but grown and embellished, the house, now listed, has transformed, like those who lived there, visit it, or work there. Three exhibitions accompany this anniversary. Starting in March, the exhibition “Habiting the house” invites you to cross time with a transformed ground floor. The contemporary works of 8 artists and the Board Game Campus & Art Dans L‘Espace Public (ARBA-ESA) workshops reclaim the bourgeois reception spaces. Thrifted furniture pieces will mingle with artistic interventions to scenograph the house and make it even more alive. At the same time, upstairs, the exhibition “Sheltered from view” will take place. In the space of the bedrooms and bathrooms, but also the service and domestic stairs, 7 artists will talk about intimacy and domesticity, discretion and sleep. Finally, in September, it is the family garden – now public – that inspires the final exhibition of these 200 years. In “In the garden,” which will take place upstairs, the works will evoke the dialogue between the interior and the exterior, plants, trees, and living things. “Habiting the house” will also reopen its doors on the ground floor, until the month of November. The three exhibitions will be accompanied by several festive moments to fully celebrate this anniversary. PRACTICAL INFORMATION EXHIBITION PERIODS 07.03 > 24.05.2026 Habiter la Maison (ground floor) Sheltered from view (1st floor) OPENING & BIRTHDAY PARTY: 06.03.2026 – 18:00 > 22:00 18:00: welcome and free drink 18:45: Prins Zonder Carnaval & Gilde brass band 19:30: speech by Martin de Brabant, Acting Mayor of Schaerbeek, in charge of FR Culture and Heritage and Anne-Cécile Maréchal, head of Maison des Arts. 20:00: cutting the birthday cake 20:30: drinks at the Estaminet and musical atmosphere by Shaftcrew EXHIBITION PERIODS 19.09 > 15.11.2026 Habiter la Maison (ground floor) In the garden (1st floor) OPENING / PARTY: 18.09.2026 – 18:00 > 23:00 More info soon on the Birthday Party Copyright: Cyprien Gain / @Lagainze. Arts² – Visual communication workshop, 2025.