Art in the metro
Art is not just locked in museums. Brussels has a whole host of art objects and architectural treasures so discreet that you could easily sail right past without even noticing them. For the price of a ride, for instance, you can admire the delights of art and design found in some Brussels metro stations.
Modern transport, modern art
When Brussels started work on the metro in the 1960s, the feeling was that such an avant-garde project deserved some avant-garde art. That’s why the first metro stations contain some touches of modern art from the epoch.
But it doesn’t end there, because the more recent metro stations also combine art and public transport. Each one has its own personality, creating a different feel every time.
A External linklist of stations and artists (FR) is published on the STIB website.
Alternatively, download or buy External linka special brochure about art in the metro (PDF Format) (FR).
Selected pieces
- Vandervelde: underground murals
- Aumale: photos in realist documentary style showing the construction of the metro in the 1970s
- De Wand: Belgium’s biggest mural, which keeps growing every year
- Parvis de Saint-Gilles: the Declaration of Human Rights in mosaic form
- Stuyvenbergh: Statues of Queen Elisabeth in a grotto
- Stockel – Ribaucourt: large murals of comic strip characters
- Hankar: a huge mural critiquing society in graffiti style.
- Roi Baudouin: 31 fluorescent ducks fly through the station
- Simonis (Léopold II): huge designs reminiscent of carpets and wallpaper bedeck the walls
All new futurist metro stations:
- La Roue: metallic partitions and meandering works of art
- CERIA: a life-size panoramic photo of two Brussels neighbourhood.
- Eddy Merckx: a surrealist dream in which humans, animals and nature interact, in a metallic backdrop
- Érasme: a metro station without a roof but with vaults, embellished with Erasmus’ evocations and adages
Good Brussels deals:
Save on fares – get a one-day or three-day ticket for use on the metro, bus and tram network in Brussels.
