Claus Bertermann - GRIMAUD (XXL-format)

Artist: Claus Bertermann

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.bertermann.art

"GRIMAUD"

Claus Bertermann is an internationally established contemporary artist whose market profile is backed by international market authority and exceptional secondary market results. Known for his powerful, large-format abstract works, Bertermann has consistently commanded high-tier prices at the world’s most prestigious auction houses. His top realized prices include €18,900 at C. h. r. i. s. t. i. e´s Paris (Retro Zen), €15,240 at S. o. t. h. e. b. y´s Cologne (F5TP#CB), and €15,120 at C. h. r. i. s. t. i. e´s Paris (Whispershade). With additional successful sales at V. a. n. H. a. m, A. r. t. c. u. r. i. a. l, T. a. j. a. n, and D. o. r. o. t. h. e. u. m, Bertermann’s work is a proven asset for serious collectors worldwide.

The Beginning of a New Series

With a Master’s degree in Architecture (TU Munich), Bertermann originally gained global recognition for his "architectural strata" technique—layering and scraping oil paint to build spatial depth. "Grimaud" marks a deliberate new departure. Setting aside the roller-and-oil-pastel method of his earlier figurative work, Bertermann here paints everything wet-in-wet with large brushes, intentionally letting the colours bleed and merge for a far more fluid, organic result. His reference points are the painters of German Expressionism—distorted perspectives, heightened, emotionally charged colour. This is the first canvas of a wholly new body of work.

International Artistic Footprint

With more than 1,000 large format works in private and institutional collections across the globe—including a monumental triptych at his alma mater, the Technical University of Munich—Bertermann continues to bridge the gap between rigorous structure and intuitive freedom. This Catawiki offering presents a rare opportunity to acquire the very first work of an exciting new series from an artist with a solidified international auction record.

Important details for collectors

– Original, one-of-a-kind artwork - MADE BY A REAL PERSON, NOT AI.
– Dimensions (H x W): 210 x 160 cm (83 × 63 inches)
– Medium: Acrylic on canvas
– Year: 2026
– Signed by the artist on the front and back side
– Ships rolled without frame

What makes this piece unique

"Grimaud" catches two figures at the one instant their paths are forced to touch: a narrow flight of steps in a hillside village, one person climbing, the other descending, meeting on the single stair they are obliged to share. It is the most ordinary of encounters and the most quietly loaded—two trajectories, two entire lives moving in opposite directions, granted exactly one step of common ground before the village swallows them again.

The painting refuses to tell us who they are to each other. A greeting between strangers? A parting that neither wanted? A reunion that arrived a flight too late? The stairs keep their counsel. What is certain is the geometry of it: up and down, arrival and departure, pinned to the same worn step under the same Provençal sun—the small, recurring drama of every village staircase, where the only way past another person is to pass through the same square metre of stone.

Behind them rises Grimaud itself: cypresses standing like dark exclamation marks, ochre houses with their pink chimneys, the hills folding back into a sky laid on in broad, weather-blown strokes. The setting is deliberately landscape-driven—the village is not a backdrop but a second protagonist, pressing in on the figures with all the saturated weight of high summer.

In this new series, Claus Bertermann fundamentally changes his physical process. He abandons the roller ground and the oil-pastel contour drawing of his earlier figurative work. Instead, the entire surface is built wet-in-wet with large brushes: figures, steps, foliage and sky are laid down while the paint is still live, so that one colour runs into the next and the boundaries dissolve. Nothing is sealed off; everything keeps moving.

The result is openly indebted to German Expressionism—Kirchner’s tilted streets and angular crowds come to mind. Perspective is intentionally bent, the staircase rears up more steeply than any surveyor would allow, and the colour is pushed well past description into pure sensation: electric pinks, acid greens, cobalt and flame-orange colliding without apology. This is no longer construction by layering and scraping; it is a single sustained gesture, painted forward, at speed, on a wet field.

Why it is worth the price

This is a large-scale, museum-sized painting (210 x 160 cm) and the inaugural work of a new direction in Bertermann’s practice—the moment an internationally collected artist visibly turns a corner. For collectors, "first of a series" is a meaningful provenance marker: this is the canvas that defines the vocabulary everything after it will be measured against.

The wet-in-wet handling gives the surface a rare immediacy—you can read the speed of the arm, the decision made in a single pass, the moment two colours met and were allowed to stay merged. Bertermann couples this freedom with his trained architect’s instinct for structure, so the riot of colour never loses its spatial logic: the staircase still climbs, the village still recedes, the figures still hold their ground.

"Grimaud" balances expressive, high-key force with a quietly literary subject—the chance crossing on a flight of stairs—making it both immediately compelling on the wall and conceptually lasting for collectors.

Visual description & condition

The composition is built around a steep flight of mauve-pink steps rising diagonally through a Provençal hill village. Two figures meet in the foreground: a woman with long dark hair, wrapped in luminous blues and white, descends toward the viewer with something pale held at her waist, her face broken into strokes of green, yellow and red; a second figure in deep navy and flame-red stands close beside her, set into the dark mass of the stair. A tan handrail runs diagonally up the right edge of the steps.

To the left, a pink wall and dark foliage frame a yellow flowerpot of red geraniums. To the right and behind, the village climbs the hillside—tall dark-green cypresses, ochre and coral houses, a pale building crowned with pink chimneys at the upper centre, and scattered red blooms—all beneath a broadly brushed blue-and-white sky. The entire surface is painted wet-in-wet with large brushes; colours visibly run and merge into one another. Perspective and anatomy are intentionally distorted to prioritise emotional weight over realism. The work is signed "Bertermann" in red at the lower right.

The work is unframed and not stretched. Condition is excellent. All surface irregularities are intentional and integral to the artist's process.

Background / artistic context

Claus Bertermann works within contemporary expressive figurative painting, focusing on states of being rather than mere representation. With "Grimaud" he opens a new chapter that places the human figure inside a charged landscape, drawing directly on the legacy of German Expressionism: bent perspective, heightened colour, and a surface kept deliberately fluid.

By switching to an all-over wet-in-wet method—large brushes, merged colours, a single forward pass—Bertermann trades the cool separation of ground and drawing in his earlier figurative work for something warmer and more volatile. "Grimaud" embodies this method precisely: a small human drama on a village staircase, dissolved into pure colour and movement, and the first statement of a series to come.

Practical details for buyers:

Original, one-of-a-kind artwork
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions (H x W): 210 x 160 cm (83 × 63 inches)
Signed by the artist on the front and back side
Certificate of authenticity included
Shipped rolled (not framed or stretched)
Professional packaging and worldwide shipping with premium shipping companies like UPS.

The canvas includes an additional continuous white border of approximately 10 cm (approx. 4 inches) on all sides beyond the painted surface. This margin allows the artwork to be professionally restretched on museum-quality stretcher bars up to 6 cm (approx. 2.4 inches) in depth, resulting in a clean, frameless, gallery-style presentation without the need for a decorative frame.

Please note that the artwork is sold unframed and without stretcher bars. Professional stretching is the responsibility of the buyer. The painting is shipped rolled for safe international transport and flexible installation according to the buyer's preference.

The artwork is signed on both front and reverse, with title, year, and the artist's full name inscribed on the back.

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