It took eleven years to renovate Antwerp’s Fine Art Museum KMSKA. But the end result is spectacular. The old masters are hung in grand 19th-century rooms, while modern art occupies a series of white spaces.
The museum curators thought long and hard about how to make the place welcoming to children. The idea they have come up with is simply brilliant. They asked the flamboyant Brussels hat maker and opera set designer Christopher Coppens to create ten art installations inspired by paintings in the collection.
He let his imagination run wild, creating a giant moving hand (room 2.12), a camel that children can climb on (room 2.2) and a giant dinosaur skull (room 2.16). The museum hands out little books to kids as they arrive so they can hunt down the ten installations.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
