Le Chat Museum Lands on its Feet

Getting a cat to settle somewhere can take patience. Getting Philippe Geluck’s Le Chat into his own museum has taken more than a decade. Now, after years of delays and spiralling costs, the famous cartoon feline has found a prospective home in Ixelles—with an opening anticipated in early 2028.

The new address is a former porcelain factory on Chaussée de Wavre, part of which has been listed since 1997. Heritage architect Francis Metzger of Brussels will oversee the building’s restoration, with work expected to take around a year. A cat surrounded by porcelain might once have been a worrying proposition. Here, it looks like a promising cultural match.

The forthcoming Musée du Chat et de l’art rigolo will occupy 2,300 square metres, giving visitors room to explore the Brussels cartoonist’s world through drawings, sketches, paintings, sculptures and radio and television clips. Alongside the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions will explore leading humorous illustrators, cats throughout history and art with a sense of humour.

Le Chat’s original museum was destined for Place Royale. Announced in 2015 as a collaboration with the Brussels region, the opening kept retreating into the future while the bills moved steadily in the opposite direction. Geluck withdrew in June 2026, saying that accumulated delays and a three-fold increase in the budget he was expected to cover had made the venture economically unviable.

The subsequent search for a privately funded alternative moved considerably faster. According to Geluck, visiting the Ixelles property, reaching an agreement with its sellers and concluding negotiations took barely 12 weeks. After more than a decade of waiting, Le Chat apparently discovered the fast lane.

A foundation will manage the museum entirely through private funding. The estimated investment is €2 million—roughly a third of the comparable sum cited by Geluck for the earlier project. Sales of monumental sculptures will also contribute, while additional patrons are being sought. In other words, some very large cats will help pay for this one’s new home.

Early 2028 is the anticipated opening, although Geluck is allowing room for delays. His priority is to restore the building properly. For now, Brussels’ best-known cartoon cat appears to have landed on his feet. Whether he arrives punctually is another matter. He is, after all, a cat.