Who is in charge of Belgian art market? Jan Fabre, Luc Tuymans and Francis Alius

in 2011 on the European art market with a modest share of 1.11%Belgium ranked only sixth place, behind not only the UK, France and Germany, and Sweden with Italy. However, the low position of the Belgian art market does not reflect the success is achieved at the international level, Belgian artists. Four Belgian entered the Top-30 modern European authors in 2011, which means that Belgium has become the third most widely represented country in the ranking after the United Kingdom and Germany.

Top -10 auction results of modern Belgian artists in 2011

№	Author	Work	result, dollars	Auction
a	Luc Tuymans	Deal - No deal (2011)	956 500	September 22, 2011, Christie's, New York
2	Luc Tuymans	Easter (2006)	800 000	May 10, 2011, Sotheby's , New York
3	Wim Delvaux	models of truck and shovel Caterpillar 5C (2004)	297 730	October 13, 2011, Sotheby's, London
4	Luc Tuymans	Beach (2011)	260 000	November 9, 2011, Christie's, New York
5	Jan Fabre	Man, which measures the clouds (1998)	252 448	October 15, 2011, Christie's, London
6	Alius Francis	Eternal Jew (2011)	248 000	September 22, 2011, Christie's, New York
7	Jan Fabre	Man giving the fire (2002)	233 595	February 17, 2011, Christie's, London
8	Jan Fabre	The Battle in the Hour Blue (1989)	221 606	September 14, 2011, Christie's, London
9	Alius Francis	Untitled (Man /woman with a shoe on head) (1995)	200 000	May 11, 2011, Sotheby's, New York
10	Jan Fabre	Anthropology of the World (2008)	197 876	May 17, 2011, Sotheby's, Amsterdam

in 2011 of the Belgian artist Luc Tuymans (Luc Tuymans) was not only the best-selling, but also the most generous. In fact, two out of three of his best results were achieved for the year at a charity auction. His work «Deal - No deal» («Lucky - no luck") was offered to customers on September 22 at New York auction Christie's «Artists for Haiti" (proceeds go to help victims of the earthquake in 2010). Tuymans painting bought for 956,500 dollars, much more expensive than the estimate of 600-800 thousand dollars. Work «Deal - No deal» Tuymans was created in Bruges. The author says that he was inspired by a lone man, who played on the machine in the corner of the bar the night after midnight. In the large-scale (200 x 130) canvas Tuymans player is in disarray and confusion.

Luc Tuymans Deal - No deal. 2011 Source: christies.com

Luc Tuymans Beach. 2011 Source: arcadja.com

few weeks later, Takashi Murakami has organized a charity auction to benefit earthquake victims in Japan, where the work of Tuymans' Beach "(2011) was sold for 260 thousand dollars. In this oil painting artist reworked his earlier silkscreen "Beach" in 2005, based on Polaroid photography with night surf. The new version of the incident wave on the beach and the night sky become shades of gray and white. In this work the author has expressed his personal attitude to the tragedy of the country affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

Another work Tuymans - "Easter" (2006) - in May, was sold at New York Sotheby's auction for 800 thousand dollars. The picture belongs to a series of works Tuymans, exploring the influence of the Jesuits in the various decision-making systems (political, religious, etc.).. With these record results Tuymans prices almost back to the peak level in 2005, when the Tate Modern held a retrospective of his. And more recently in Brussels ended journey of a traveling exhibition Tuymans, who visited earlier in Chicago, Columbus, Dallas and San Francisco.

VIM Delvaux Model trucks and an excavator Caterpillar 5C. 2004 Source: m.sothebys.com

VIM Delvaux Model Truck and Excavator Caterpillar 5C (fragment). 2004 Source: m.sothebys.com

Belgian artist Wim Delvaux (Wim Delvoye) in third place ranking with his "Models of the truck and an excavator Caterpillar 5C» (2004) , sold at Sotheby's auction in London October 13 to 297.7 thousand dollars. Executed in the style of the sign for the artist a small truck and excavator were the most expensive work Delvaux, sold at public auction. Cut from steel with a laser Gothic tracery patterns reminiscent of Flemish roots artist. Delvaux has long been considered a "bad boy" of Belgian contemporary art - that he tried to fill his tattoos pigs and invented apparatus for the production of excrement "Cloaca". Over the last year in addition to the artist notoriety and commercial success came, three of his works were sold to 150 thousand dollars more expensive - as much as the previous four years.

Jan Fabre The person measuring the cloud. 1998 Source: christies.com

Jan Fabre Man giving the fire. 2002 Source: classic.skor.nl

Jan Fabre (Jan Fabre) as well as Delvaux, can not be assigned to the angels, but the reputation of an agent provocateur has not prevented him to take four lines in the ranking of the most successful Belgian authors. His best result in 2011 is in fifth place in the national standings. Secondary market operations Fabre finally started to match the level of international recognition, which the artist has made in recent years (Jan Fabre, for example, was a guest artist of the Belgian pavilion at the Venice Biennale). A bronze statue of "The Man measure the cloud" (1998) at auction Christie's October 15 auction prices reached 252.4 thousands of dollars - for the best artist in 2011. Total Fabre produced eight casts of this sculpture, one of them in 2009 was auctioned off for around 230,000 dollars, and one already this year, Feb. 16, was sold for $ 267,000 than last year's updated personal record for the artist, and confirmed the rise in prices market his work. The current rating is still a couple of sculptures by Jan Fabre: "A person who gives light" (233.6 thousand dollars, Christie's, London) and "Anthropology of the world" (197.9 thousand dollars, Sotheby's, Amsterdam). Interestingly, one of the most expensive works of Fabre in 2011 - «The Battle in the Hour Blue» (221,6 thousand dollars, Christie's, London) - drawing, while all the previous results of graphic works of Fabre did not exceed 28,000 dollars. The work is a three-leaf-deer, enshrined in the center of a sheet of paper, completely shaded with a ballpoint pen. It is the oldest job rating - Fabre created it in 1989.

From November 2004 to May 2008, 12 works by Francis Alusil (Francis Alys) went under the hammer 150 thousand dollars more expensive. From June 2008 to May 2011, only one result of his work has reached over 80 thousand dollars. The market works Alusil crisis affected dramatically: in the period 2008-2010 the price of his work fell by 37 percent. In 2011 at the Tate Modern was one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of Belgian - "The history of deception." Now the demand for work Alusil rose again: in 2011, without customers there is only 21 percent of its work, while in 2009 the figure was 40 percent. It is therefore not surprising that two of them got into the current rating. Began as an architect, Francis Alius in his work explores the interaction between man and space with a variety of techniques - from painting to performance. On the already-mentioned charity auction "Artists for Haiti," a lot of work Alusil oil «Le juif errant» («The Eternal Jew"), and several preparatory drawings for it went for 248,000 dollars. The picture reflects the theme of migration in terms of mythology. Another excellent result brought the work "Untitled" ("The man /woman with a shoe on his head") with a rather bold estimeyte 100-150 thousand dollars (considering the last sale of this work in 2004 for 70,000 dollars), the work has been sold twice as much - 200 thousand dollars.

So far their best Belgian artists auction results did not make at home. Nevertheless, Belgium is responsible for a quarter of all sold lots of these four authors, which corresponds to 11 per cent of total revenue for their work at auction.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru

about Belgian artists and read:
Jan Fabre - artist and entomologist ;
Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Luc Tuymans ;
Top-10 Newsweek. Francis Alius: art as a commentary on the existence .