OUR WORK
Catalogues Raisonnés
Olivier Bertrand is highly experienced in assessing works for inclusion in the catalogues raisonnés of Théo Van Rysselberghe, Georges Lemmen, Rik Wouters, and Ivan Pokhitonov, ensuring that each piece is rigorously examined according to scholarly and historical standards.
Catalogue raisonné of the paintings, 1995
Rik Wouters
Compiling a catalogue raisonné was a natural choice for Olivier Bertrand, who combined impeccable ethics with unwavering rigor.
Rik Wouters was another obvious choice for the young Boitsfort resident, whose family from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg settled in Watermael Boitsfort in 1907, the same year as Rik Wouters and his wife. The two families lived a few kilometers apart and never knew each other. They were brought together in a way when Olivier Bertrand published the catalogue raisonné of the famous painter. Other works by Olivier Bertrand devoted to Rik Wouters were subsequently published.
Exhibition catalogue at Bozar, Brussels, 2002
Catalogue raisonné of the prints, 2007
The story of Rik Wouters for children, 2002
Rik Wouters first biography, 1994
Rik Wouters, Regards sur un destin. The largest monograph on the artist, 2000
Ivan Pokhitonov
In 1920 and 1921, Russian painter Ivan Pokhitonov, who was living on Rue du Trône in Brussels at the time, would regularly set up his easel in Watermael-Boitsfort, on Rue Louis Ernotte to be precise, where he painted the opulent villas of what was then the Brussels countryside. It was on this street that Olivier Bertrand’s Luxembourgish great-grandfather built what would become the family home for four generations.
Again, there was no connection between the Bertrands and Pokhitonov until the publication in 2015 of the Russian painter’s catalogue raisonné. This is the first catalogue raisonné devoted to a Russian artist and signed by Olivier Bertrand, who is the world’s leading authority on the artist’s work.
Catalogue raisonné, volume 1, 2015
Compilation in progress, to be published online
Georges Lemmen
After Rik Wouters and Ivan Pokhitonov, Olivier Bertrand is now studying Georges Lemmen for which he is also the authority on the authenticity of their works, as he prepares the catalogue raisonné based on the Lemmen family archives.
Théo Van Rysselberghe
Olivier is also the authority on the authenticity of Théo Van Rysselberghe’s works and was appointed curator of the most important retrospective dedicated to the artist.
This exhibition was accompanied by an important catalogue which is now considered as the reference for the artist pending the publication of the catalogue raisonné. Once again a scientific publication based on unpublished archives, letters and personal notebooks of the artist.
Théo Van Rysselberghe exhibition catalogue, Bozar, Brussels, Gemeentemuseum The Hague, 2006
Olivier Bertrand, La Cote de l’Art Belge, 2003.
Defining Belgian Art Values
Olivier Bertrand has also played a pioneering role in documenting the Belgian art market. He published the first art price guides dedicated exclusively to Belgian artists, notably La Cote de l’Art Belge / Belgian Artists in 2003. This landmark publication brought together price references for more than 2,000 Belgian artists, offering collectors, professionals, and institutions an unprecedented overview of the Belgian art scene and establishing a key reference tool for the valuation of Belgian art.
The shortlist of the artists included: Jean Brusselmans, Edgard Tytgat, Xavier Mellery, William Degouve de Nuncques, Jean-Jacques Gailliard, Louis Thévenet, Philibert Cockx, Willem Paerels, Constantin Meunier, Henri Ramah, Adrien-Joseph Heymans, Juliette Wytsman, Rododlphe Wytsman, James Ensor, among many others.
