The Crazy Art Cabinet (Museum Het Zotte Kunstkabinet)

The Crazy Art Cabinet is a museum of 16th century renaissance satire art. Art lovers should check out this specific, unique, and fascinating collection

Museum Het Zotte Kunstkabinet is inside 't Vliegend Peert, a house that was home to artists throughout the 16th century. This whole street Sint-Katelijnestraat was practically a hive for the arts - there were about 150 art studios on this street alone in the 16th century. Plenty of museums will give you an overview of that time period, but The Crazy Art Cabinet shows you a whole new side of Renaissance paintings

Unless you had a cool teacher at school, you probably won’t have seen Renaissance satire art. The painters of this time poked fun at pretty much everyone. But they did it to make a point. Hey, there’s comedians in every century.

The museum has only two rooms and the displays are in Dutch. An average visit takes around 40 minutes but if you don’t speak Dutch it’ll take more time to translate the displays to get more info. You’re really left on your own to explore and come to your own understanding of the art, so we recommend this for adults & art lovers.

You can also get a guided tour for a group on request. This museum is also an art research centre, so your guide will really know their stuff. Tours are available in English, Dutch, French, and German

• Most of the museum focuses on satirical paintings by 16th century Flemish artists like Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Adriaen Brouwer
• Fans of the strange and unusual will fall in love with the expressive paintings. These aren’t the regular pretty portraits you see, but are poking fun and judging people to make a point about morality
• So who lived here? One of the most important artists that made their home here was Mayken Verhulst, one of the major female artists of the 16th century. She also mentored Pieter Bruegel the Elder