Grit and Grace XXL — Claus Bertermann at Sotheby's

Grit and Grace XXL is a square oil on canvas, 160 by 160 centimetres, executed in 2023. It is currently offered at Sotheby's as Lot 25 of the Modern & Contemporary Discoveries sale — a curated online auction placing emerging and mid-career painters alongside established names in the modernist tradition.

The work belongs to the Abstract Series. Large-format paintings built in layers of oil, the surface worked and reworked until what remains is structural rather than decorative. The title names two forces that run through the process: the resistance of the material, and the resolution that occasionally emerges from it. At 160 by 160 centimetres, the canvas is designed to hold a room. It is signed lower right, and again on the reverse with the title and date. A certificate of authenticity signed by the artist accompanies the work.

Claus Bertermann is a trained architect working as a painter in Oviedo, Spain. More than 1,000 large-format works have been sold. His paintings have appeared at auction at Sotheby's, Christie's, Van Ham, Artcurial, Tajan, and Dorotheum, with prices ranging from USD 6,500 to 20,700. In 2026, six works are on view at Palazzo Bembo, Venice, as part of Personal Structures. Confluences — the European Cultural Centre's biennial exhibition running through November alongside the Venice Biennale.

The Sotheby's listing carries a pre-sale estimate of EUR 6,000 to 8,000.

View Lot 25 at Sotheby's — Modern & Contemporary Discoveries 2026