Why not sign up for a cultural tour to learn more about surrealism in Brussels, for example, or more specifically, about René Magritte.

1. GBB

1. A walk through the centre of the city with a visit to the Magritte museum.
2. A walk with a visit to the Magritte museum, lunch break (optional) in a historical “surrealist” tavern (group reservation)
Daily programme
3. Bus tour through Brussels and its surrounding area with a visit to the Magritte Museum and Magritte’s house in the outlaying district of Jette.
4. Bus tour through Brussels and its surrounding area with a visit to the Magritte Museum, Magritte’s house in Jette and the graves of Magritte and Marcel Mariën.
Daily programme

Price: 106 euros per guide (maximum 3 hours) + entrance to the Magritte Museum and Magritte’s house in Jette.
Languages: FR – NL – EN – DE

Information: Tel. +32 (0)2 548 04 48
Reservations only taken by post (can be scanned and sent by post) or by fax: + 32 (0)2 514 45 38 – guides@brusselsinternational.be – www.brusselsinternational.be.

2. Pro Velo

Magritte and the Surrealists

The inauguration of the new Museum in honour of Magritte is the perfect opportunity to present a new course that takes in Schaarbeek, Jette and Brussels city centre. Here, we will be showing you the various haunts where he lived and found inspiration, punctuated with scores of anecdotes about the Surrealist movement. We will also be visiting the René Magritte Museum (www.magrittemuseum.be) in Jette. Admission to the René Magritte Museum is included.

Price: 200 €
Bike rentals: 9€/pedal bike
Duration: 4 hours (18 km)

Languages: F – NL – E – D

Information and reservations: Pro Velo  tel +32 (0)2 502 73 55 - info@provelo.org - www.provelo.org

Arrangements and prices for individual participants available at www.provelo.org

3.  Itinéraires

"This is not a realist walk": Magritte, Delvaux and the others

What prompted Magritte to write “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe) in his famous painting? Belgian surrealism is easier to understand when you have a first-hand insight into the favourite haunts of the followers of this artistic movement. A walk to discover the surrealist side of Brussels.

Languages: NL – FR– EN – DE– ES – IT
Price: 160 euros per guide, for 2 hours; 195 euros for 4 hours.
Information: Itineraires, Sur les Sentiers de l’Histoire, + 32(0)2 541 03 77 – sophie@itineraires.be

Bus tours
Magritte: his house, his friends, his everyday dreams
Diner with show: Dinner with a touch of surrealism, and eventually “Magritte Entertainment”

Information and reservations: Tel. + 32(0)2 541 03 77 – sophie@itineraires.be

Information for individual participants:
Tel. + 32(0)2 541 03 77 (only in French) – sophie@itineraires.be – www.itineraires.be

4. Culturama

Surrealist walks

1. Visit to Magritte’s house in Jette, optional walking tour
Visit Magritte’s house on the Rue Esseghemstraat, where he created the vast majority of his work. The decoration of the rooms and of the office in the “Bongo” garden has been reconstituted. Option: guided walk through the district with a coffee break.

Up to 12 persons per guide
 

2. In the footsteps of Magritte
In the course of a guided visit through Brussels city centre, you will discover the places where Magritte studied, bought his painting supplies, exhibited his work, played chess and got together with friends. We will also visit the buildings that were important to the other surrealists, such as the Conservatoire, for example. The stroll through the city ends with a visit to the picturesque café "Het Goudblommeke van Papier".

Up to 18 persons per guide

Languages: NL – DE – FR - EN
Price: 105 euros per guide + entrance to the museum
Reservations: Culturama, Tel. + 32 (0)2/569 27 74 – Fax +32 (0)2 569 31 44 – culturama@telenet.be – www.culturamavzw.be

5. VTB Kultuur

"This is not a walk":

A walk through the city centre to those places that Magritte loved and visited regularly. The guide will open your eyes to the surrealist side of Brussels and explain why the translations of some names of bilingual streets are equally surreal …

Languages : FR – NL – EN – DE
Price: 100 euros (NL) – 110 euros (FR – EN – DE)
Reservations: vtbKultuur, Osystraat 35, 2060 Amberes, Tel. +32 (0)3 224 10 52 – info@vtbkultuur.be

6. Chatterbus

Holding up the bar with Magritte

Magritte, Marien, Nougé and his friends would get together in bars with names as fantastic as "Het Goudblommeke van Papier" or "l’Agneau moustique". And today you can still feel his presence in some of the city’s bars. Hold on tight to the floating umbrellas as you let yourself be carried by the surrealists on a journey oscillating between the world of dreams and reality.

Languages: NL – FR – EN - DE
Price: 142 euros
Reservations: Babbelbus vzw, Tujastraat 12, 1170 Brussels, Tel. +32 (0)2 673 18 35 - Fax +32 (0)2 675 19 67 – babbelbus@skynet.be

Tours are also organised for individuals. Information: www.busbavard.be

7.  Klare Lijn

The footsteps of surrealism: Magritte

1. A walk through the city
During this walk you can learn a lot about Magritte and his friends - writers, poets or lawyers, who together formed the group of “Brussels surrealists”. Although the physiognomy of the city of Brussels has changed considerably since then - in the company of an experienced guide, it is easy to take a step back in time.

2. Tours with your own coach

Leave behind the city centre on Magritte’s trail. Visit the graves of René Magritte and of his wife Georgette, in Schaarbeek. The tour ends with a visit to the Royal Museum of Belgian Art.

Languages: FR – NL – EN – DE
Price: 110 euros per guide
For groups with their own coach
Reservations: Klare Lijn, Dorpstraat 40, 1070 Brussels, Tel. +32 (0)493 50 40 60 – info@klarelijn.be

8. Arkadia

Monsieur René Magritte

During your visit to Magritte's home in Jette, you will be entering his private life to find his brushes, his letters, the musical scores of his wife Georgette and his garden studio. Next, it is off to the city centre on the trail of Magritte. As such, this visit is not a rediscovery of the artist's oeuvre, but very much an attempt to lift the veil on the man hidden underneath the bowler hat.

Price: 165 euros (during the week) / 175 euros (weekends) + 6 € admission price
Duration: 3 hours
 

Surrealism in Brussels: "Il n'y a aucun mérite à être quoi que ce soit" (Marcel Mariën) ("There is absolutely no merit in being absolutely anything")

But just where is the surrealism in this city? Just for you, we have sought it out, hunted it down and traced it only to find it revealed in our sense of 'belgitude', somewhere between Magritte and Delvaux, our sense of compromise and eagerness to skirt the issues, our megalomania and our tongue in cheek, between multiculturalism and bilingualism, in rampant capitalism and the sense of melancholy of a world of yore, unaccomplished aesthetic desires and the misdirection of objects, in Brusselisation … A leisurely stroll in an attempt to decipher daily life in this country, allowing you to be swept off your feet by the singular strangeness of the city: Brussels in a different light!

Duration: 90 minutes
Price: 150 euros (during the week) / 160 euros (weekends)
Languages FR – E - ES
Koningsstraat 2/4 rue Royale
1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
Tel: +32 (0)2 563 61 53Fax : +32 (0)2 56361 60
E-mail: info@asbl-arkadia.be