“You’re really too dumb”, burnout and resignations: testimonials again overwhelm the director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts

According to the public media, around forty employees (out of 210 in total) are once more questioning the management of Michel Draguet. RTBF has had contact with some of them.

One employee says:I’ve already witnessed a real bashing from my direct manager in a meeting during which he told her ‘You’re really too stupid’. I was in shock. He has very problematic remarks in relation to women.” And she adds, regarding another employee of German origin, that Michel Draguet has already made remarks in a meeting “vis-à-vis Nazism or other allusions to the Second World War”.

Another witness, an ex-employee who was fired, adds: “Homophobic, racist, misogynistic remarks: it is recurrent, it takes place during meetings, sometimes in the presence of partners, sometimes in the presence of artists and even journalists.

According to the testimonies, the artists themselves are also the target of the director of the MRBA. “We can find ourselves with Michel Draguet who will say, as soon as the artist has left the room, ‘In any case, this person is not even an artist, she is painting crusts’ or, in reference to the work of ‘a contemporary artist who we welcome, treat one of his works as ‘turd’.”

In addition to these inappropriate remarks, the management of Michel Draguet is also disputed. A witness evokes a director “autocentré” et “who never lets anyone speak”. According to another, the director of the MRBA has a “total control over the programming of exhibitions, of which he is curator at 80-90%”. A third person states that he manages this public institution “as if it were his private company, with his own unique vision and goals, and probably his own interests”.

Several testimonies also evoke strong pressure on the staff. “Several people in different departments ended up in burnout or resigned”says a source.

Michel Draguet reacts

Faced with these accusations, Michel Draguet did not remain silent and reacted to RTBF. He evokes the complicated situation of many public institutions, in particular because of a limited budget. “There is unease everywhere, and not just at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, there is unease in the other scientific establishments, and from what I hear in a large part of the function general public”specifies the director of the MRBA.

On the criticisms concerning the exhibitions, which some accused him of choosing on a case-by-case basis, Michel Draguet advances “economic reasons”. “To live, you need exhibitions that drain the crowds”, he specifies.

With regard to remarks deemed offensive, the director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts indicates: “I won’t go into detail, but obviously I’m not the perfect guy. I probably speak straight and it’s true that when we screw up, maybe I say it. I regularly handle humor, it can be misunderstood.”

If he is therefore sorry for all these attacks, Michel Draguet nevertheless finds “pretty astonishing to see these kinds of accusations appear at a time of reappointment…”