Willy Van den Bussche passed away

On 14 December, Willy Van den Bussche passed away at the age of 71. Van den Bussche died of complications from a heart attack in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C..He was there for the purpose of honouring the Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck (1925).

Van den Bussche became Conservator of the West Flanders' provincial museums in 1967. In 1987, he took on role of Conservator for the Provincial Museum for Modern Art (PMMK) in Ostend. In 2007, he resigned his tenure as Conservator and went into retirement.

The highly driven Willy Van den Bussche brought to life nearly 200 exhibitions. In 2012, he also conceived of a grand retrospective of Constant Permeke (1886-1952) in the exhibition hall of BOZAR in Brussels. An exposition such as From Ensor to Delvaux in 1996 in the PMMK (now Mu.ZEE), unmistakably contributed to the reputation of James Ensor for a broad public. Van den Bussche was also the man behind Beaufort: Triennial of Contemporary Art by the Sea, whereby ten art communities set up contemporary art exhibitions in public spaces.

With the death of Willy Van den Bussche, Belgium lost a distinguished personality from the Art world.

(News item 18 December 2013)