The first artworks have arrived at Kanal–Centre Pompidou in Brussels, the long-awaited new museum of modern and contemporary art set to open on November 28. On Tuesday, a first art transport moved three works in special crates from the museum's storage facility to the building on Sainctelette Square, where they will form part of 'A Truly Immense Journey', one of the opening exhibitions. 'It's a moving experience for the whole team to finally see the result of what we've been working on so hard for years and to realise why we do it,' press officer David Salomonowicz told Brussels media outlet BRUZZ. 'And it couldn't be more symbolic than the fact that the first works come from artists in our own collection.' Kanal has been building its own collection since 2018, with a particular focus on Belgian artists. It now comprises around 120 artworks, including pieces by Sammy Baloji, Kasper Bosmans, Aline Bouvy, Walter Swennen and Ann Veronica Janssens — a deliberately local counterweight to the international loans that will also fill the vast former Citroën garage. The arrival marks the beginning of the end of a long road for the project, which has faced delays and cost overruns on its way to becoming Brussels' first museum of modern art. With the opening now less than two months away and the inaugural programme — spanning exhibitions, live art and a free indoor playground by the Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble — already announced, the sight of actual artworks entering the building makes the November date feel real for the first time.