Liege Fine Arts Museum

The Liège Fine Arts Museum, commonly known as BAL (Beaux-Arts Liège), was a former art museum located in the Féronstrée et Hors-Château district of Liège, Belgium. Established in 2011, it served as a consolidated institution bringing together several previously independent collections before closing permanently on 28 February 2016. Its collections were subsequently transferred to La Boverie, the new museum that opened on 5 May 2016 in the renovated Palace of Fine Arts in Parc de la Boverie. During its brief existence, BAL held significant importance as the temporary custodian of Liège's major artistic patrimony, housing over 6,000 paintings and sculptures and more than 40,000 works on paper.

The museum's origins trace back to 1903, when the first Musée des Beaux-Arts de Liège was created in an annex building of the Académie royale des beaux-arts de Liège on rue des Anglais. This early incarnation disappeared in the 1970s when its modern and contemporary collections were moved to the palais des beaux-arts in Parc de la Boverie, built for the 1905 World's Fair, becoming the Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain (MAMAC). Meanwhile, Walloon art collections had been gathered since 1952 in the Musée de l'Art wallon, housed from 1952 to 1980 in the Boverie building and then from 1980 to 2011 in the Féronstrée complex designed by architect Henri Bonhomme. The BAL was resurrected in late 2011 as a merger of the MAMAC, the Fonds ancien, the Cabinet des Estampes et des Dessins, and the Musée de l'Art wallon, installed in the former Musée de l'Art wallon premises. Initially, this building was intended to remain the permanent home for BAL while the Boverie palace would host a new contemporary art museum, the Centre International d'Art et de Culture (CIAC). However, plans changed and a single large museum, La Boverie, was chosen instead. The future of the Féronstrée building remains undetermined.

The BAL collection was formed from three previously distinct entities. The former Musée de l'Art wallon presented paintings and sculptures by artists from the French Community of Belgium from the 16th to the 20th century, with notable emphasis on Liège artists. The MAMAC collection comprised approximately 700 works tracing the evolution of painting and sculpture from the genesis of modern art around 1850 to contemporary trends, with particular focus on Belgian and French schools. The Cabinet des Estampes et des Dessins held roughly 40,000 prints and drawings from the 16th century to the present, predominantly by Liège artists but also including German, Flemish, French, Dutch, and Italian schools. This important fund was built through municipal purchases and numerous bequests, with the majority of pre-19th century works deriving from the collection of Canon Henri Hamal, last choirmaster of Saint-Lambert Cathedral, and a 2,000-piece bequest from collector Ulysse Capitaine including old views and plans of Liège. The consolidated collections contained more than 6,000 paintings and sculptures and over 40,000 works on paper.

The museum occupied a building in the Féronstrée et Hors-Château quarter of Liège's historic center, constructed between 1975 and 1980 to designs by architect Henri Bonhomme. Located near the Grand Curtius museum of archaeology and decorative arts, the building featured a spiral-shaped exhibition space that had previously housed the Musée de l'Art wallon. The Salle Saint-Georges within the complex was used for displaying work by contemporary artists from Liège and Wallonia.

The Liège Fine Arts Museum was located in the Féronstrée et Hors-Château district of Liège, Belgium, near the Grand Curtius. It operated from its opening in 2011 until its definitive closure on 28 February 2016. The museum was municipally owned, and its collections were subsequently transferred to La Boverie, which opened on 5 May 2016 in the renovated and expanded Palace of Fine Arts in Parc de la Boverie. No information is available regarding future use of the Féronstrée building.