Two Brussels Galleries Open Joint Location in Antwerp

Two of Brussels’ leading contemporary art galleries are joining forces in Antwerp. Schönfeld Gallery and Zwart Huis, neighbors in the Belgian capital for more than a decade, will open a shared location on Nieuw Zuid this September, bringing two distinct artistic programs under one roof at Jos Smolderenstraat 18. The space, previously home to Everyday Gallery (YYY), has grown into a fixture of Antwerp’s contemporary art landscape over the past years.

A Shared Ambition, Not a Merger

While the galleries will share a building, both maintain their own identity and present completely separate exhibition programs. Visitors enter through a common meeting space, after which each gallery unfolds its own exhibition halls and artistic vision.

“The new location is not a merger, but a shared ambition,” said Greet Umans of Schönfeld Gallery and Elke Helbig of Zwart Huis in a joint statement. “The collaboration translates mainly into sharing an exceptional location and the conviction that both programs reinforce each other, while each maintains its own identity.”

The move places the galleries on an important contemporary art axis in Antwerp, between established names like Tim Van Laere Gallery and Sofie Van de Velde, as Het Laatste Nieuws reported.

A History of Neighboring

Schönfeld Gallery was founded in Antwerp in 2015 by Elie Schönfeld, a passionate collector and patron of the arts. Three years later, the gallery moved to the Rivoli Building in Brussels, a former 1970s shopping centre transformed into a contemporary art hub housing fifteen galleries. There, it became neighbors with Zwart Huis, which had relocated to the same building in 2014 under the direction of Elke Helbig, who took over the gallery from her mother, founder Gerda Vander Kerken.

Zwart Huis was originally established in 2001 in Knokke and has since built a reputation for representing a select group of contemporary Belgian artists, with a tradition of figurative painting alongside photography and conceptual art. Schönfeld Gallery works with both emerging and established artists, with special attention to work on paper.

Two Inaugural Exhibitions

The joint opening on September 5 will feature two distinct exhibitions. Schönfeld Gallery presents “Double Trouble,” a new body of work by Albert Pepermans developed since the summer of 2025. At the heart of the exhibition lies the concept of the diptych: paintings conceived as twins, yet never identical. The show, running through October 17, also introduces Pepermans’ first bronze sculpture—a pair of bronze twins—as the artist approaches his eightieth birthday. As Schönfeld Gallery describes it, “Double Trouble is not a retrospective, but a celebration of artistic renewal.”

Zwart Huis, meanwhile, inaugurates its Antwerp space with “El Pulso del Agua — Part I,” the first major solo exhibition in Antwerp by Belgian artist Nils Verkaeren (b. 1980). The show represents the culmination of eight years of artistic research across Colombia and South America, developed through expeditions to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Amazon region, and the river systems of the Río Magdalena and Río Cauca. Verkaeren works as a contemporary plein-air painter, exposing canvases to rain, wind, heat, humidity, and sediment, allowing natural forces to become active participants in the work. A parallel presentation runs simultaneously at Galerie Zwart Huis in Brussels as part of Rendez-Vous Brussels Art Week, forming a diptych between the two cities.

A Strategic Move for the Flemish Art Market

Both galleries have participated in Art Antwerp and Antwerp Art Weekend in recent years, experiences that shaped their decision to establish a permanent presence in the city. “There it became clear that both Brussels and Antwerp have their own, strongly locally rooted audience of collectors and art lovers,” Umans and Helbig explained. “Through a permanent presence in Antwerp, we bring artists closer to a new generation of Flemish collectors, while at the same time maintaining our position in Brussels.”

The location itself carries significance. The building at Jos Smolderenstraat 18 was designed by POLO Architects and opened in May 2019 as Everyday Gallery (YYY), founded by Boris Devis. As Buurt aan de Stroom noted at the time, the gallery aimed to be “the most contemporary gallery in the world,” and the space became a reference point in Antwerp’s contemporary art scene.

What to Watch For

The joint opening on September 5 marks a new chapter for both galleries and signals the continued growth of Nieuw Zuid as a destination for contemporary art in Belgium. The collaboration between two established galleries—each maintaining its own identity while sharing an exceptional space—could serve as a model for how galleries adapt to evolving art markets.

A festive opening at Schönfeld Gallery’s Brussels location follows on September 6, and both galleries will continue to participate in Art Antwerp and Antwerp Art Weekend. For collectors and art enthusiasts, the new Nieuw Zuid location offers a rare opportunity to experience two distinct artistic visions in a single visit.