Home > Current events > PRINCESS MARIE-JOSÉ BETWEEN BELGIUM AND ITALY A ROYAL WARDROBE

PRINCESS MARIE-JOSÉ
BETWEEN BELGIUM AND ITALY
A ROYAL WARDROBE

From 3 October 2012 to 3 March 2013

An ambassador of elegance in the 1930s

Princess Marie-José, circa 1929. Photo Robert Marchand ©KIK-IRPA

 

CINQUANTENAIRE MUSEUM

Parc du Cinquantenaire 10
1000 BRUSSELS

INFORMATION:

• Tel : +32 (0)2 741 72 11
• Website: www.mrah.be
• E-mail: info@mrah.be

OPENING HOURS:

• Tuesday to Friday: 10AM-5PM
• Closed on Mondays, 1st and 11 November, 25 December and 1st January.
• Ticket booth closes one hour before the exhibition’s closing time.
• Late night opening of the Brussels Museums: Thursday 8 November, 5PM-10PM

ADMISSION PRICE:

€10/€8/€3 (includes access to permanent collections)

CURATOR:

Marguerite Coppens, Head of the department of European Decorative Arts

PRESS CONTACT:

Bart Suys, Head of the Communication Service
• Tel: +32 (0)2 741 73 00
• E-mail : b.suys@mrah.be

The Cinquantenaire Museum dedicates an exhibition to Marie-José (1906-2001), who was the daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. Under the influence of her mother, this princess grew up in a highly refined art-loving and musical milieu. In 1930, she married prince Umberto, the Italian heir, and started wearing impressive clothes that contributed to the prestige of the Roman court.


Wedding, 8 January 1930. Paolina Chapel in the Palace of Quirinale, Rome. ©Copiepresse

An impressive display

A total of 145 objects, including 9 court coats and 17 evening dresses, will allow visitors to be immersed in the atmosphere of the thirties. The exhibition owes its realization to the Umberto II and Marie-José of Savoy Foundation, which has lent the most important pieces. This exceptional loan was placed in its context and enriched with items brought from the Royal Palace, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and from the Royal Library. The contribution allowed the exhibition to shed light on other aspects of princess Marie-José’s life, such as for example her interest in Egyptology. Unpublished photographs and archive documentation help illustrate the complexities of that period and the course that the turbulent life of this princess took during those years. At the age of forty, she had no choice but to leave the country and go into exile.


An Italian destiny

"From my very youth I was brought up knowing that one day I would marry Umberto, the heir of the Italian throne. In the mind of the little girl I was, this perspective had become a golden dream, a sort of fairytale. My mother kept this hope alive. She spoke to me of this Prince charming in such an attractive manner that he came to embody perfection itself" Marie-José wrote. Following the engagement announcement in 1929, the “fairy tale” materialized on 3 January 1930, when the royal Belgian family got on board the train made available to them by the Italian sovereign, to go to Rome. The marriage took place on 8 January 1930. By marrying Italian Crown Prince Umberto, Marie-José had to adapt to a glittering, but rigid, court in a fascist environment, far removed from the values of the Belgian court. This duality was reflected in her prestigious wardrobe, which was both anachronistic in terms of ritual and in line with the propagandist ideas of the 1930s.


Court coat, Concettina Buonanno fashion house, Naples-Rome, 1934, 400x157 cm

A very political glamour

The Crown Prince gave his wife evening dresses and court coats of unprecedented luxury, hand-embroidered by Italian haute-couture houses. Comely and slim, she became an icon of female elegance in the 1930s, magnified by photographers such as Robert Marchand, the Court’s official provider. He became famous through his sophisticatedly lit portraits, giving a Romantic aura to his characters. This exhibition evokes the glamorous world of those years, placing it in a time when appearance was a facet of political strategy.


PUBLICATION:

• Catalogue La Princesse Marie-José., entre Belgique et Italie - Une garde-robe royale, 128 p., €24.99, publishing house: LANNOO


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