Museum voor Schone Kunsten

We had a rough start trying to visit the MSK. We needed to purchase a Gent Tourist City Card before we could use our tickets purchased on-line. The museum did not have them and neither did SMAK across the street. We had to walk back to the STAM museum to get them & even they did not seem to have many. Gent Tourism should not promote this card on line without allowing to purchase the card on line since the museums can run out of them. Beyond this hiccup, we loved the MSK! The permanent collection is fabulous and worth at least 3 hours for art lovers. The audio guide is good as well as the art piece’s translated descriptions. Seeing the panels of the Mystic Lamb being restored in the workshop was fantastic! And being able to get close to the paintings to study details was a huge advantage. The museum is definitely larger than what we thought it would be. We did not even make it into the special exhibition unfortunately. The are free lockers downstairs.

Fantastic museum. Visited Ghent a second time, now specifically for the Stephan Vanfleteren exposition. Spectacularly beautiful exposition, worth the trip alone. Thereafter I visited the permanent collection and that was also a true delight. Unbelievable that the MSK Ghent does not draw international crowds, with the many masterpieces they have. For the exposition 2 hours will suffice, including half an hour for the video art documentary by Stephan Vanfleteren. The permanent collection took me another wonderful 3 hours. Highly recommended, even as a destination itself.

EXCELLENT (and beautiful) museum with both old masters and new. I was also impressed with the pilot program they are doing on an AI project (see in the photos). And, as many museums do in Belgium, they do restoration work on important pieces in a fully visible to the public space. In this case, it was restoring some of the panels of the Mystic Lamb from St. Bavo's Cathedral.

The MSK (Museum of Fine Arts) in Ghent is fantastic! It’s a big, beautiful building filled with all kinds of art. The paintings range from old classics to more modern stuff, so there’s something for everyone. I loved the bright colors and stories behind the artworks. The museum is easy to walk through, with clear signs and cozy rooms. It’s not too crowded, which makes it relaxing to explore. The staff are friendly, and the price to get in is reasonable. There’s a nice café for a quick break too. It’s perfect for a calm, artsy visit in Ghent. I really enjoyed it and would go back! A few paintings attached. The virgin of the carnation - Rogier Van Der Weyden The Adoration of the Magi - Colijn de Coter Christ carrying the cross - Jheronimus Bosch St. Jerome at Prayer - Hieronymus Bosch Family Portrait - Cornelis De Vos Mary Magdalene - Alfred Stevens Portrait of a young lady - Frans I Pourbus Interior or a Loving Couple - Leon De Smet Wedding Dance in the open air - Pieter II Brueghel Village Lawyer - Pieter II Brueghel The Peasant Wedding in a Barn - Pieter II Brueghel Fugue - Gustave Van de Woestyne Jupiter and Antiope - Anthony Van Dyck The Flagellation of Christ - Peter Paul Rubens A Spaniard in Paris - Henri Evenepoel

I paid 66 euros for a visit to an overrated museum with very few pearls. That's incredibly expensive – in London you can see a da Vinci for free, in Ghent three Rubens paintings, and several other famous artists. I definitely don't recommend it! According to Belgians, art should only be seen by wealthy people. So I ask: Why not charge 500 euros for admission? Human greed knows no bounds. It's disgusting.

Een museum dat niet enkel toont, maar raakt. De tentoonstelling rond Jules De Bruycker verraste, ontroerde en vertrouwde me toe aan verstilling. Een absolute aanrader voor wie schoonheid zoekt met een ziel. A layered encounter — where stillness meets splendour A hidden gem in the heart of Ghent. I visited the Museum of Fine Arts for the Jules De Bruycker exhibition, and found myself immersed in a world of contrast — from grand masters to intimate, time-warp spaces. The highlight? A circular glimpse into a bibliophile’s dream: a room lined with books, colours, stories and symbols. Quietly surreal. Together with my son, I wandered through luminous halls filled with timeless paintings and unexpected harmony. The museum offers room to breathe. Curated with care, it invites you to slow down and truly see. A beautiful reflection of what Boardroom to Bodhi stands for: aesthetic depth and soulful connection. Short tip: Take a moment in the book room — it feels like stepping into a secret.

A hidden gem that exceeded my expectations. The museum is larger than I thought it would be, with a vast and thoughtfully arranged collection that spans centuries of fine art. From powerful religious altarpieces to expressive portraits and evocative historical scenes, the variety and richness of the collection are truly impressive. The restoration studio of the polyptych the Ghent Alterpiece is the highlight of the tour. Unfortunately for me it was a public holiday, and nobody was working, but the beautifully detailed panels displayed behind glass still spoke volumes. The introduction panel offered rich insights into the techniques and restoration work done there—quiet yet powerful in its own way. Photography wasn’t allowed inside the studio area. The collections by De Bruycker is more of contemporary art and also very impressive, standing out not only for their artistic appeal but also for the artist’s care for the suffering of the poor and daily struggle of the working class. Whether you’re a seasoned art lover or a curious wanderer, MSK Gent offers a deeply rewarding visit.

A great museum with plenty of amazing arts. There is free instructions & audio in English, French & Dutch. The staffs are wonderful. Hope they restock the Ada magnet soon!

On a very wet November Saturday,I walked through Ghent's Citadel Park and I spent a memorable day at Ghent's MSK Art Museum.Although it is appreciably smaller than the Old Masters Art Museum in Brussels,there were plenty of paintings and works of Art that captivated me from the time it opened to the time it closed.I have confined this review to its paintings from the 14th Century to the end of the 18th Century.Its collection of Renaissance and Baroque Period Paintings with devotional subject matter is outstanding.Some of my favorite devotional theme paintings were Puccio di Simone's"Coronation of the Virgin"14th Century Italian Trecento,Colin de Coter's"Adoration of Magi",Master of the Family of Saint Anne's"Saint Anne and Family",Jacob Oostansen's""Calvary",Jaime Huguet's"Crucifixion of Saint Peter"(Spanish Renaissance),Marius Van Reymerswaele's"Calling of Saint Matthew"Jacob Jordaens'"Flight From Egypt",Peter Paul Rubens'"Saint Francis receiving Stigmata"(a quintessential Counter Reformation Painting),Gasper de Crayer's"Judgement of King Solomon",and Hendrick Van Vliet's Church Interiors with marvelous lighting effects,among many others.Other favorites were Theodore Rombouts'"Allegory of Senses",Anton Van Dyck's"Jupiter and Antiope",Adriean Van Utrecht's"Fisherman's Stall",Aelbert Vander Schoor's"Smoker",Melchior d'Hondecoeter's"Waterbirds",Jacques Fouquier's"Panorama of Avignon",and Jan Van Goyen's"Landscape With Castle",among numerous others. The next day,I returned to this fine art museum to concentrate on their 19th and 20th Century works of Art. Furthermore,I appeciated the helpfulness of their staff and fine curatorial work.

A part of me wanted to say that this is just another art gallery, but honestly there isn't such a thing as 'just another art gallery', especially when the gallery that we are referring to happens to be in Europe. This particular gallery, while I didn't necessarily stumble across, I didn't realise that it existed until the night of my arrival in Ghent. The reason is that I got it mixed up with the modern art gallery. However, this gallery also contains modern art, but along with that it also have quite a lot of traditional works of art, whether they be impressionist or whether they be of the old masters. Another interesting part of this gallery was that there was a room that was set aside to show us the technique of restoring the older paintings, and included one particular work of art (namely the altarpiece) that was being restored at the moment.

I trekked all the way to this museum, from downtown, a distance of about two kilometers, in the rain....... OK, I am starting to sound like a story my grandparents once told me. But let's just say that I definitely went out of my way to come to the MSK, or Museum voor Schone Kunsten. There was a visiting exhibition by Danh Vo, which dealt with politics and identity. It sounds pretty cool in concept, but the actual visit to see it was underwhelming, because it appears in the press photos exactly as it does in real life. Nothing more to see. Eh. So I moved on to the permanent exhibitions. Lo and behold, there was the display of the Flemish baroque painters: Jacob Jordaens, Anthony van Dyck, and Peter Paul Rubens. Admittedly the art is interesting (although it has its low and boring moments), but I had just seen this same exhibition (or parts of it on loan) at the Hermitage in Amsterdam. Needless to say, I breezed on through the rest of this, stopping only to read up about the paintings that caught my attention. For someone who is an English speaker, thoroughly absorbing the art here would take HOURS, particularly since all the descriptions are only in Dutch. For other languages, each room has its own handout, and there were at least 20 rooms, and likely more. For someone not as familiar with Flemish art, this place is high on the must-see list. But if you're already versed in the classics, it might not be as interesting.