Peinture Fraiche is my favourite independent art bookshop in Brussels. I could spend hours in this calm and stylish bookshop looking at beautiful books and get inspired! Peinture Fraiche is located in the Ixelles district, close to popular Place Chatelain and rue de Bailli.

What I especially like at Peinture Fraiche is their wide range of subjects which satisfies every taste and curiosity. All art forms are represented here; not only painting, sculpture and architecture but also photography, town planning, graphic design, ceramics, cinema, fashion. There is even a section dedicated to street art and Japonisme. You can also find a selection of international art magazines that are difficult to find elsewhere in Brussels.

The staff keeps itself updated and regularly invite artists to discuss issues they are concerned with. So, if you are looking for a very specific book on any of the mentioned subjects, you might be sure that they know what you are talking about.

I also appreciate the fact that all the year round Peinture Fraiche offers a generous stock of books at reduced prices, which is very interesting given that art books tend to be rather expensive. Most of the books are in French and English.

Peinture Fraiche’s shop windows are themselves worth a detour. They are usually decorated according to a theme, for example all books about gardening, or a colour, have the cover in the same colour, for example all-blue or all-rose books… the result is pure poesie!