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Museum and Gardens Van Buuren
ISBN: 9789462302419
(HB - E)
€
In 1909 the Dutch banker and patron of the arts David van Buuren (1886 - 1955) took up residence in Brussels. His career in the world of finance mirrored the major political, economic and cultural developments of the twentieth century. In 1922 he married a Belgian, Alice Piette (1890 - 1973): that was the start of thirty years of happiness during which the couple's Art Deco villa, on avenue Errera in Brussels, would gradually achieve its cultural destiny. As a patron David van Buuren supported the arts without counting the cost. After his death Alice continued his work and in 1970 she bequeathed the house, the works of art and the gardens to a foundation. That foundation became the Buren Museum, the embodiment of an old dream of its residents.
The villa, which was built in the style of the Amsterdam school, is a living museum. Rare furniture, carpets, stained-glass windows, sculptures and paintings by masters are still there today in their original settings, in the intimacy of a home full of memories. The impressive collection of pictures in the Buuren Museum covers five centuries of the history of painting, including among others works by the Flemish and Italian Old Masters, the two sons of P. Brueghel, of the school of Rembrandt, by Guardi, Fantin-Latour, Ensor, Van Gogh, Signac, Van Dongen, Foujita, Ernst, Permeke, Wouters and Desmet. David van Buuren was the sole patron of Gustave van de Woestyne and the museum still houses 32 of his pictures.
The garden is a feast for the eyes. Today the property covers 1.5 hectares. With delights such as the picturesque rose garden or the 'garden of the heart', this green oasis in Brussels constitutes a harmonious backdrop in keeping with the house.
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