Surrealism with style in Belgium
From the city which revels in chocolates, cartoons and café-culture now comes a brand new museum in celebration of Belgium’s best known Surrealist artist.
Opening in June, the René Magritte Museum, part of the Museum of Modern Art complex on the Place Royale in the centre of Brussels, will bring together some 170 works by Magritte, who was born in Belgium in 1898 and trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
The influence of René Magritte’s work is to be found at the Rocco Forte Collection’s luxurious five-star Hotel Amigo, a leisurely stroll from the new museum in the heart of Brussels. In remodelling the interior, Director of Design Olga Polizzi used copies of Magritte’s paintings in all the rooms and decorative apples and pears – which frequently appear in his paintings – as whimsical accessories.
The Magritte Suite is named in his honour: an elegant series of rooms on the third floor with dual aspect over the Grand ’Place.
Now Hotel Amigo is collaborating with the new Magritte Museum to show visitors the real thing, with a cultural package that combines a vibrant dash of imagination-busting Surrealism with some unmistakably 21st-century style and comfort.
As part of the experience, guests will receive tickets to the new museum, a copy of the luxurious, hardback exhibition book to go with it, a special-edition box of Wittamer chocolates with a Magritte theme and a customised Magritte-Amigo umbrella. The package also includes a welcome cocktail in the Amigo Bar, one night in a luxurious room for two people and a buffet breakfast with homemade pastries and freshly baked Belgian waffles. Hotel Amigo’s Magritte Package starts from €293 per room, per night (based on two people sharing).
The Amigo’s fine dining restaurant, Ristorante Bocconi, is presenting a dinner menu appropriately entitled “This is not a menu”, in homage to Magritte’s famous image of a pipe which has the enigmatic caption “This is not a pipe”. The menu in fact features three very real starters, main courses and desserts, prepared to a Magritte theme by award-winning chef Vincenzo Regine, and is on offer to anyone booking the Magritte package at the special price of €100 for two people. Extra nights, room upgrades and limousine airport transfers are also available on request.
Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Brussels six times a week – for more details, visit etihadairways.com.
To make a reservation, or for more information, log on to Roccofortecollection.com.
