Musée Magritte

Magritte is one of the ten best known painters in the world. In order to draw attention to the fascinating world he created, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, GDF SUEZ, the Belgian Government, and the Fondation Magritte have come together to create the largest museum dedicated to the artist’s work in Brussels. It is scheduled to open in summer 2009.

A donation of skills to culture and sustainable development

The Musée Magritte, which is scheduled to open in summer 2009 in Brussels, the capital of Europe and the painter’s hometown. It will house the largest collection of Magritte’s paintings in the world (200 paintings) in a space of 2,500 m².

It is the fruit of a unique and original sponsorship in Belgium that brings together the expert skills of a private company and a public project. GDF SUEZ has contributed its unique expertise, which is a marriage of cutting-edge technology and green energy.

The most modern media will be made available to the general public. Thanks to the installation of several screens, everyone will be able to view heretofore unpublished archives and documents and discover every facet of the artist’s work.

A project supported by GDF SUEZ

The Energy Services branch carried out all of the construction work in the museum through its French and Belgian subsidiaries: Fabricom GTI, Axima Contracting, and INEO. Electrabel provided “100% renewable” energy.

• Fabricom GTI  was responsible for the major portion of the building’s interior renovation works, in particular the installation of strong current (lighting and power circuits) and weak current (smoke detection, access control, anti-intrusion, cables for multimedia and audiovisual systems, and alarm delays) electricity circuits.
  

  The challenge was to adapt the building from a functional standpoint, and in terms of comfort and security, while taking into consideration its environment and energy aspects.

• Axima Contracting
  

  Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning of the building, temperature and hygrometry maintenance for the preservation of the art.

• INEO was responsible for the design and construction of the document and multimedia portal of the museum’s collections and the creation of all audiovisual and multimedia files, as well as the building’s outside animation.

• Electrabel supplied 100% renewable energy.

The involvement of GDF SUEZ in a cultural project of this scope, for both the sake of art and sustainable development, is part of the Group’s tradition of patronage and the company’s ethic of corporate responsibility.

Energy efficiency, renewable energy, making culture accessible to everyone: GDF SUEZ has made sustainable development a central feature of this project.