Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens is a compact but tightly focused art museum in Deurle, a village on the Leie river within the municipality of Sint-Martens-Latem in East Flanders, Belgium. It grew out of a private collection assembled by the couple Jules Dhondt and Irma Dhaenens, who began buying art already in the 1920s and 1930s.

Where the collection came from

The Dhondts settled in Deurle in 1938, moving into a village that had long attracted Flemish artists — painters, sculptors, poets and architects drawn to the quiet stretch of the Leie. Living among this artistic community gave the couple something few private collectors of the time had: direct access to the artists themselves. Jules Dhondt was often able to buy works straight from their makers, without dealers in between, which gave the resulting collection unusual coherence and historical credibility.

The museum building

As the collection grew, the couple decided it deserved a dedicated home open to the public. The museum opened its doors on 30 November 1968, housed in a modernist building designed by architect Erik Van Biervliet. From the outset the building was meant to serve two purposes: safeguarding the Dhondt-Dhaenens collection and functioning as an active venue for cultural and artistic events.

What the collection holds

The core of the collection is modern Flemish art created between 1920 and 1970, with particular weight given to the so-called Latem school — the artistic circle centered on this village along the Leie. The Dhondts focused almost exclusively on Flemish artists working between 1880 and 1950, and the collection today includes works by figures such as James Ensor and Frits Van den Berghe, two of the central names in Belgian expressionism and symbolism.

The museum's role today

The institution is now run by the Mrs Jules Dhondt-Dhaenens Foundation, whose task is to protect the founders' original vision while opening both the collection and the museum's cultural activity to a broader, contemporary audience. Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens has not stayed anchored in the past: it organizes around eight temporary exhibitions a year devoted to international contemporary artists, among them Thomas Hirschhorn, Karla Black, Wade Guyton, Julie Mehretu, Jessica Rankin, Ryan Gander, Monika Sosnowska, Richard Aldrich and Charline von Heyl. This combination lets the museum bring together a historical collection of Flemish modernism with an active, ongoing contemporary art program.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the museum located? In Deurle, part of the municipality of Sint-Martens-Latem, on the Leie river in the province of East Flanders.

When did the museum open? On 30 November 1968, in a building designed by architect Erik Van Biervliet.

What kind of art can visitors see there? Modern Flemish art from 1920–1970, including works connected to the Latem school, alongside a rotating program of contemporary art exhibitions.

Whose collection formed the museum's basis? The private collection of Jules Dhondt and Irma Dhaenens, who started acquiring art in the 1920s–1930s, frequently buying directly from the artists themselves.