Belgian Museums Unite for Magritte's 50th Death Anniversary

To mark the 50th anniversary of René Magritte's death on August 15, 1967, major Belgian institutions have created a joint program under the brand 'Year of Magritte'. The initiative involves the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Magritte Foundation, WPG Belgium Editions, the town of Knokke-Heist (where collector Gustave Nellens commissioned Magritte's pivotal work 'Le Domaine enchanté' in 1952), and Brussels' Atomium monument. The centerpiece is the autumn exhibition 'Magritte and the Sea' at the Scharpoord Cultural Centre in Knokke-Heist, running from October 20, 2017 to January 14, 2018, exploring the artist's connection to the sea. The article also mentions other anniversaries: Seville is commemorating the 400th birth anniversary of Esteban Murillo with 'Murillo and Seville' from December 1, 2017 to January 2019; the Netherlands is celebrating 100 years of De Stijl with events across 14 cities; the 100th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's Fountain was marked on April 9, 2017, with participation from the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome; Cremona honors Claudio Monteverdi's 450th birth anniversary; and Turin prepares for a 2019 Leonardo da Vinci year involving Florence, Venice, and Milan, alongside Germany's Bauhaus centenary.