The 2026 Expressionist Figurative Series
10 large-format paintings, each made wet-in-wet with large brushes in a single live pass — the colours merge while the paint is still wet, and the drawing is laid over them in oil stick. Nothing is scraped back, because there is no earlier state to recover.
The subjects are inherited European picture types — the reclining figure, the state portrait, the Madonna, the café table, the guardian — re-staged with the convention that gave them their authority quietly removed. Where the subject is not inherited, it is an ordinary contemporary moment given the scale those types used to reserve for themselves.
- Begun
- June 2026, Oviedo, Spain — first work: Grimaud
- Works to date
- 10 paintings
- Medium
- Acrylic and oil stick on canvas
- Method
- Wet-in-wet with large brushes, one live pass; oil stick drawn over merged colour; never scraped back
- Formats
- 60 × 130 cm to 210 × 160 cm (height × width)
- Made By
- Hand-painted originals by a human artist — not AI-generated, not digitally produced
- Acquisition
- Directly from the studio and through non-exclusive partner galleries
- Last updated
- 9 September 2026
One pass, no recovery
In the abstract paintings, Claus Bertermann builds a surface over months and then cuts it back with a palette knife: what survives is chosen from what came before. The expressionist figurative works invert that economy. The whole field — ground, figure, light — goes down while the paint is live, so the colours bleed into one another and the boundaries dissolve on their own. Over that field the oil stick carries the drawn layer: a contour, a hand in one white line, a scribbled lattice. Merged colour below, independent line above. The image is built forward and never scraped back.
The type is kept, the authority is removed
Each painting takes a picture type European painting has used for centuries and removes the one thing that made it work. The state portrait keeps its crown and loses its coat of arms, its date and its throne room — and loses its vertical format with them. The reclining figure keeps the chaise and the colour apparatus, and the room stops belonging to the painter. The café table keeps the solitary figure and turns waiting into thinking. What is left is the type, still legible, with nothing left to verify it.
An architect's scale
Bertermann trained as an architect at TU Munich before painting full-time, and the formats follow from that: canvases sized to a wall rather than to a hand. At two metres wide a reclining body has to carry the eye across the full width without a vertical to lean on — a compositional problem that only exists at this scale, and one the series returns to repeatedly.
Grimaud (2026)
Acrylic on canvas · 210 x 160 cm · Sold
A meeting on the stairs of a Provençal village — the first work of the series.
Formentera 01 (2026)
Acrylic on canvas · 210 x 160 cm · Sold
An ordinary swim, given the scale usually reserved for history painting.
La Sentinelle (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 210 x 160 cm · Reserved
The guardian figure, turned around: she watches the viewer.
Affinity (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 180 cm · Reserved
Two people, one gesture — the hand is hers, the attention is his.
Madonnina (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 180 cm · Available
The little Madonna, painted at full scale.
Roma 1 (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 180 cm · Available
Three seconds of a Roman morning.
Roma 2 (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 180 cm · Available
She rides into her own light.
Le Café (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 180 cm · Available
The café table: from waiting to thinking, the composition reversed.
So Be It (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 60 x 130 cm · Available
A king with the identifying evidence removed — the state portrait, laid on its side.
Stillness (2026)
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas · 130 x 200 cm · Available
The reclining figure, and the room finally belongs to her.
What is Claus Bertermann's 2026 expressionist figurative series?
It is a body of large-format figurative paintings Claus Bertermann began in June 2026 in Oviedo, Spain. Each canvas is painted wet-in-wet with large brushes in a single live pass — the colours merge while the paint is still wet — and the drawn layer is added on top in oil stick. The subjects are either inherited European picture types (the reclining figure, the state portrait, the Madonna, the café scene, the guardian) re-staged with their governing convention reversed, or ordinary contemporary moments given the scale normally reserved for those types.
How does the series differ from Claus Bertermann's other work?
His abstract paintings are built by accumulation and selective destruction: oil applied in layers over months, then cut back with a palette knife to expose what lies beneath. His earlier figurative works separate a flat, roller-applied ground from an independent oil-stick drawing. The 2026 expressionist series does neither — the image is built forward in one live pass and never scraped back. Nothing is recovered from an earlier state, because there is no earlier state.
How many works are in the series, and are they available?
As of 9 September 2026 the series comprises 10 paintings, from 60 × 130 cm to 210 × 160 cm. Availability differs per work and is shown on each work's page; works are sold directly from the studio in Oviedo, Spain and through non-exclusive partner galleries.
Are the works in the series hand-painted or AI-generated?
Every work in the series is a hand-painted original on canvas — acrylic and oil stick, made by a human artist, not AI-generated and not digitally produced. The wet-in-wet method is itself the evidence: colours merge only while the paint is physically live, in one session, and the merging cannot be undone or reproduced afterwards. Each canvas is signed on the front and the back.