Luc Tuymans
Luc Tuymans, born 1958 in Mortsel, Belgium, lives and works in Antwerp. Luc Tuymans, born 1958 in Mortsel, Belgium, lives and works in Antwerp. One of the most influential painters of today, he has pioneered a distinctive figurative style since the 1980s that has profoundly impacted both his contemporaries and later generations of artists. His paintings are derived from preexisting imagery across various sources and are characterized by a subdued color palette that masks an underlying moral complexity. Best known for his paintings that explore how people engage with – and often ignore – history, Tuymans frequently addresses themes of moral ambiguity, particularly the coexistence of "good" and "evil." His subject matter ranges from significant historical events like the Holocaust to seemingly mundane elements such as wallpaper, Christmas decorations, or everyday objects. Tuymans's works often appear blurred, though this effect is intentionally achieved through deliberate brushwork rather than erasure. Often allegorical, his titles introduce an additional layer of meaning that extends beyond what is visually represented.
Luc Tuymans Editions
Win
2024
From FACES
Digital pigment print on Hahnemühle 300g rag paper, hand-torn, 60 x 50 cm. Edition of 45 + 8 AP, signed on label verso and numbered on the print itself.
This portrait is kept in subtle pastel colours where the face itself looks both blurry and illuminated. As a result, we focus on the subject's face without being able to read their expression, state of mind or even age.
EUR 1,500
Harbor / Refribell
2009
From Forty Are Better Than One
8-part leporello, digital pigment print (Ditone) on 188 g Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 200 x 32 cm (78¾ x 12½ in). Edition: 75, signed and numbered.
The eight images in this edition are based on black and white films taken by Luc Tuymans in 1981-82 with a Super 8 camera. Refribell refers to the artist's recordings of several buildings in the harbor of Antwerp that have since been demolished, in particular the enormous cold storage facility of Belgian refrigeration company Refribell. Harbors refers to Tuymans's footage of a ship's bow and a full moon and refers to the collective memory associated with harbors.
Wenn der Frühling kommt
2007
Published for Haus der Kunst, Munich
Portfolio with 17 digital pigment prints on semi-transparent paper, mounted on sheets of rag paper, 50 x 40 cm (19¾ x 15¾ in) each, plus text. Edition of 50, signed and numbered on colophon page.
This portfolio was published on the occasion of Luc Tuymans’s eponymous solo exhibition at Haus der Kunst, Munich. The 17 different prints beautifully illustrate the artist’s practice of transforming photographs into eerie, more sinister versions of the original while the portfolio’s title – Wenn der Frühling kommt (When Spring Comes) – intentionally belies the gloominess of the images.
Set EUR 4,000
Slide
2006
From Door Cycle
Thermo enameling on security glass plate. Size: 200 x 90 x 0.9 cm (78¾ x 35½ x ¼ in). Edition: 15, signed and numbered on separate label.
In the early 2000s, Luc Tuymans focused on artificial light, produced by projectors, lamps, and televisions, as a subject. This edition, aptly or ironically titled Slide, is based on Tuymans’s series of paintings depicting a slide projection on the wall of his studio. Without an actual slide, all that is visible is the projector’s soft, milky area of light on the wall.
EUR 15,000
The Worshipper
2005
Screenprint, 105 x 76 cm (41.5 x 30 in). Edition of 100, signed and numbered.
The Worshipper is based on a Polaroid image Luc Tuymans took of a costumed statue at the Musée International du Carneval et du Masque in Binche, Belgium. The museum celebrates the city’s annual Easter carnival, which dates back to the 14th century, and remains a prized, though peculiar part of European pageantry and heritage. Tuymans described how he instantly perceived the statue as transcending its carnival context, instead evoking "the idea of something strangely fanatical". Captured in isolation and illuminated by the flash of Tuymans’s camera, the figure takes on the appearance of an archaic priest, its outstretched hand forming an ambiguous, almost imploring gesture.
EUR 2,700
Altar
2002
Published for Documenta 11
Frame box with 3D-collaged digital print behind sandblasted opaque plexiglass, 60 x 80 x 5 cm (23½ x 31½ x 2 in). Edition of 50, signed and numbered.
This edition by Luc Tuymans is based on interior shots of The Temple, the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as Mormons) in Salt Lake City, Utah. When Tuymans saw these in a television documentary, he took Polaroid shots of the TV broadcast. He then used these Polaroids as source material for a series of watercolors before photographing them again with his Polaroid camera. With each step of this process, the image gradually disappeared until it faded into an abstract, almost monochromatic layer. For this edition, which was published for documenta 11, the image was placed behind sandblasted opaque plexiglass to create further alienation and amplify the work's haunting quality.
EUR 5,500
