Artist: Claus Bertermann OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.bertermann.art 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. From Architectural Abstraction to the Human Form 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. Today, he brings this same structural intensity to his figurative practice. His figurative works are not mere depictions but explorations of presence and transience, blending his architectural precision with a raw, Neo-Expressionist energy. 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 an original figurative work from an artist with a solidified international auction record. Key details for collectors – Title: Till Disconnect Do Us Part – Year: 2026 – Dimensions (H x W): [H] x [W] cm ([H] × [W] inches) – Medium: Acrylic and oil stick on canvas – Signed by the artist on the front and back side – Original, one-of-a-kind artwork - MADE BY A REAL PERSON, NOT AI. – Ships rolled without frame What makes this piece unique A bride walks through a summer park, hand in hand with her groom. It is the oldest scene in the romantic repertoire—the white dress, the veil, the dappled green of old trees, the ceremonial promenade—and Bertermann paints it with a perfectly straight face. There is only one irregularity: the groom is a matte-black humanoid robot, walking at her side with the easy confidence of someone who knows he was invited. The title supplies the first twist. "Till death do us part" is a promise built on mortality—but machines do not die, they disconnect. The oldest vow in the book is quietly downgraded to a service agreement: love, guaranteed until the power fails, the update breaks something, or the subscription lapses. What sounds like romance is, on second reading, a terms-and-conditions page. Look longer, though, and the painting plays a second, darker joke—on us. It is the robot who has presence: solid, opaque, self-assured, the most confidently painted figure on the canvas. The bride, by contrast, is dissolving. Her dress breaks into open patches of cream and pink, her skin flickers in and out of the ground, her veil is nothing but a white oil-stick line barely holding its shape. The human is the ghost in this wedding photograph; the machine is the portrait. And the same white contour line describes them both—silk and steel drawn with an identical stroke, as if, in the drawing layer at least, the marriage had already been consummated. Whatever is being promised in this park, flesh is the more fragile signatory. Why it is worth the price This is a large-format narrative painting with an instantly readable iconic hook—the kind of image that communicates across a room and keeps unfolding at close range. It condenses the defining question of this decade—what happens between humans and their machines—into a single, deceptively cheerful scene, executed with the full duality that defines Bertermann's figurative work: a physically painted ground and a confident, immediate drawn line sitting on top of it. There is also a built-in irony that collectors of contemporary painting will appreciate: a picture about the seduction of the artificial, made emphatically by hand. Every stroke of the brushed background and every wandering oil-stick contour insists on the human presence that the scene itself is busy giving away. In an art market increasingly flooded with machine-generated imagery, that tension is not decoration—it is the subject, and it is verifiable in the paint. The piece reflects Bertermann's ongoing interest in the painted gesture as the true subject of the work, making it both visually commanding and conceptually grounded for collectors. Visual description & condition Two figures walk toward the viewer through a park. On the left, a bride with auburn hair and pale blue eyes, her strapless white-and-cream dress built from loose, open patches of paint over warm skin tones; her long veil is drawn entirely in white oil-stick line, hovering around her like a sketch refusing to settle. On the right, a black humanoid robot, its head, torso and jointed limbs modeled in deep blacks and greys with white contour lines tracing its plating; small accents of red flicker at its mouth and chest. Their hands meet at the center of the composition—her white-gloved hand in its dark one, both circled by the same white line. The park behind them is laid in with broad, sweeping brushwork: layered greens from olive to bright leaf-green, white blossom passages, dark tree trunks and a pale path opening beneath the couple's feet, with a small patch of blue sky at the upper edge. Unusually for this body of work, the entire ground is painted with wide brushes rather than the artist's customary paint roller—the visible, directional brush strokes give the foliage a restless, flickering energy. The oil-stick contours sit clearly on top of the paint, keeping their independence from the ground. The work is signed "Bertermann" in green 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 and the act of painting rather than faithful representation. In this body of work the chosen motif—here, a wedding walk—functions as an occasion for paint to move. By separating painterly gesture (the brushed acrylic ground) from drawing (the oil-stick contours), he stages a dialogue between body and surface, control and release. In "Till Disconnect Do Us Part" that separation carries the meaning itself: the organic world is painted, the constructed one is drawn, and the two meet—like the couple—in the middle. The painting extends Bertermann's long-standing engagement with the human-made in an age of artificial images: a hand-painted picture about the moment we started holding hands with our machines. Practical details for buyers: Original, one-of-a-kind artwork Acrylic and oil stick on canvas Dimensions (H x W): [H] x [W] cm ([H] × [W] 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.