Melania Trump can expect a surreal Brussels visit

First Lady Melania Trump is set to have a surreal experience in Brussels this week as her hosts line up a visit to a museum of the works of artist Rene Magritte.

While US President Donald Trump meets NATO leaders on Thursday, his wife will join new French first lady Brigitte Macron at the museum dedicated to the life of the surrealist painter, according to the official programme.

Best known for his unsettling paintings featuring men in bowler hats, apples, pipes and clouds, Magritte’s fame draws more than 300,000 people a year to the museum in the centre of the Belgian capital.

The US and French first ladies will be taken on a tour of the museum by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel’s partner Amelie Derbaudrenghien, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s wife Ingrid Schulerud, as well Belgium’s fine arts museums chief.

They will then visit the Delvaux luxury handbag shop, said to be the oldest in the world, before Belgian king Philippe’s wife, Queen Mathilde, takes them on a tour of the 19th century royal greenhouses at Laeken, the palace said.

“After a walk, they will be invited by the queen to dine at the chateau” of Laeken, the palace added.

The Trumps will land in Brussels on Wednesday evening from Rome and head straight to a meeting with the king and queen, plus Michel.

Later on Thursday the first lady will visit a hospital for sick children, the White House said.