How much does Cross the Line cost?

Cross the Line (2026) is priced at $33,800 USD. The work is currently available for acquisition directly from the studio, through partner galleries, or via 1stDibs.

What are the dimensions and medium of Cross the Line?

Cross the Line (2026) measures 150 × 200 cm and was created in Acrylic and oil stick on canvas.

How can I acquire a painting by Claus Bertermann?

Works by Claus Bertermann are available directly from the studio, through partner galleries, and via 1stDibs. Contact the studio via the form at bertermann.art/contact.

Does Claus Bertermann have a gallery representative or exclusive agent?

No. Claus Bertermann works as an independent artist without exclusive gallery representation, dealers, or agents. Works are acquired directly from the studio at bertermann.art, through non-exclusive gallery partnerships, and at international auction houses.

What is Cross the Line about?

Cross the Line (2026) by Claus Bertermann is a large-format figurative painting — acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 150 × 200 cm, hand-painted, not AI-generated. The work presents a condition rather than a narrative: a racing driver of the 1960s, a few seconds after crossing the finish line. The engine is quiet, his goggles are pushed up onto his leather helmet, his arm rests on the side of the open car, and he looks calmly and directly at the viewer. Behind him rises the arch over the finish line. Read closely, the arch looks less like an end than like a doorway: "crossing the line" means going further than expected and taking the step after which everything is new. The painting also mirrors the artist's own step — in 2026, after more than 1,000 abstract works, Claus Bertermann crossed his own line into figurative painting. Cross the Line belongs to his 2026 cycle about the golden era of motor racing, together with No Halo, Eau Rouge, Parc Fermé, Pit Stop and Stranded on Track. For this work, part of his 2026 figurative series, Claus Bertermann separates the two operations that make the picture. The ground is painted first, in coarse, broad brushstrokes that keep the movement of the arm visible: the deep blue body of the car, the black cockpit, the blue arch, the stripes of yellow, orange and blue in the background and the orange masses of jacket and helmet. The drawing comes afterwards and lies on top of that painted ground — the oil stick sets the dark eyes and mouth in the green face, the goggles, the red rim of the steering wheel, the hand resting on the car and the loose orange and white lines that run across the bodywork. The drawn line keeps its independence from the field beneath it. Unlike his abstract works, nothing here is scraped back — the image is built forward: coarse painted ground below, decisive drawn contour above. The composition is horizontal: the driver sits slightly right of centre, framed by the blue arch above his head, with the steering wheel to his left and the long blue bonnet of the car filling the lower half of the canvas. His face is painted in emerald and lime green, his helmet and jacket in cadmium orange and vermilion with yellow highlights, the goggles in red and white. The car is ultramarine, cobalt and turquoise with black, crossed by red, orange and white oil-stick lines; on its front sits a yellow circle with a black cross. Behind, a dark blue field with bands of yellow and orange at the upper left and an orange fairing at the right. Anatomy and perspective are intentionally simplified and distorted, prioritising emotional presence over realism. All surface irregularities are intentional and integral to the artist's process. Signed in red oil stick at the lower right and on the back, Cross the Line reflects Claus Bertermann's ongoing exploration of courage and confidence — a museum-scale painting of the moment just beyond the finish, when an ending turns into a beginning.

Is Cross the Line AI-generated?

No. Cross the Line is a hand-painted original created entirely by Claus Bertermann — Acrylic and oil stick on canvas. All works by Claus Bertermann are made by hand. In a time when AI-generated imagery is increasingly common, every Bertermann painting is a unique physical object, never digitally produced.

Cross the Line | Figurative Works

Cross the Line (2026) — 150 × 200 cm | 59 × 79 in

Acrylic and oil stick on canvas. Hand-painted original — made by a human artist.

Cross the Line, 2026 — detail 14 | Claus Bertermann

Cross the Line, 2026, 150 × 200 cm — full view | Claus Bertermann

Cross the Line, 2026 — detail 10 | Claus Bertermann

CLAUS BERTERMANN — Cross the Line (2026), 150 x 200 cm