For the second consecutive year, Schiller Art Gallery presented at TEFAF Maastricht — one of the world’s most selective and internationally attended art and antiques fairs. The gallery’s presentation, positioned within the Modern Art section of the fair, attracted sustained attention from collectors and institutional representatives alike.
The selection was deliberate and concentrated: three works, each representing a distinct current within Belgian post-war abstraction. The discipline of the presentation — its refusal to crowd or overwhelm — was itself a statement about the gallery’s values and aesthetic sensibility.
Pierre Alechinsky: Lyrical Mastery
Anchoring the presentation was a significant canvas by Pierre Alechinsky, completed in 1964. This period — immediately following Alechinsky’s intensive engagement with Japanese calligraphy and his resettlement in France — produced some of his most assured and confident works. The work offered at TEFAF demonstrated the full range of his mature vocabulary: rapid, gestural brushwork, an organic palette hovering between earth and darkness, and a composition that operates simultaneously as image and pure energy.
Gaston Bertrand: The Quiet Geometry
In counterpoint, a panel work by Gaston Bertrand occupied a secondary wall position, creating a productive visual dialogue with the Alechinsky. Where the latter surges and erupts, Bertrand composes and considers. Composition Architecturale exemplifies the disciplined restraint that characterizes the best of his work — a painter whose influence on Belgian geometric abstraction has been systematically underestimated in the international discourse.
Collector Response
The gallery received serious inquiries from private collectors from Germany, Switzerland, and the United States over the four days of the fair. Several conversations initiated at TEFAF have since progressed to private transactions. This level of engagement validates the gallery’s long-term argument: that Belgian 20th-century art remains significantly undervalued on the international secondary market, and that now is an exceptional moment for discerning acquisition.
“The quality of the works and the discretion of the presentation aligned perfectly with what collectors seek at this level of the market.”
For further information regarding works presented at TEFAF Maastricht 2025, or to discuss acquisition opportunities, please contact the gallery directly.