BRAFA’12 - Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair

From 21 to 29 January 2012, it will take place at Tour & Taxis, located in the heart of Brussels, the 57th Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair, BRAFA’12.

With the first edition in 1955 held in the Arlequin Hall of the Galerij Louiza, under the name of “Belgian Antiques Fair” or “Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique”, renamed BRAFA or Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair in 2007, it's one of the oldest longest running fairs in the world.

Across 9 days, the public will access a fine selection of art presented by 122 exhibitors from 11 countries in over 14,000 square metres of exhibition area, showing objects and antiques such as oil paintings (including Old Masters), engravings, watercolours, gouaches, primitive art, earthenware, porcelain, ceramics, antique frames, 18th century furniture, religious icons and antique wallpaper.

This year's guest of honour will be the King Baudouin Foundation Heritage Fund, which will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in fitting style with an exceptional exhibition of a few key works from its collection of around 7,000.

Entrusted once again to Volume Architecture, the decoration will include Byzantine patterns on the carpets, inspired by the pavements of Amiens Cathedral, contrasting with origami, giant birds and kites suspended from the roof, creating an eye-catching effect on both floor and ceiling.

BRAFA’12 can be visited from 21 to 29 January 2012 (11-7 pm), with late night opening on the 24 the 26 until 10 pm.
The indivudual entrance fee is €20 (other conditions available according to number of people and ages).
For a complete practical information, please refer to this page.

Applications for iPhone and iPad, as well as a virtual tour of the stands offering the option of zooming in on some of the exhibits, will be made available.

BRAFA is organized every year by the Belgian Antiques Fair not-for-profit association.

BRAFA 2011 - Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair

Inspired by the examples of the Grosvenor House in London and the Prinsenhof in Delft, and organinzed by the Belgian Antiques Fair not-for-profit association, the first BRAFA (Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair) edition took place in 1955 in the Arlequin Hall of the Galerij Louiza.
This initiative to set up a “salon van antiquairs” was taken by Charles Van Hove, for many years the President, and Ms Mamy Wouters, Vice-President, of the Belgian Royal Chamber of Antiques Dealers.

Reserved until 1994 to Belgian antique dealers who were members of the Royal Chamber of Antiques Dealers, the fair was a national event that had been held at the "Palais des Beaux-Arts" in Brussels between 1967 and 2003, with the number of participants ranging between forty and fifty.
However its continuous success and expansion of art objects continued to arise the interest of antique dealers from abroad, leading the at the time President Christian de Bruyn to open the fair to foreign antique dealers for the first time in 1995.

The "Palais des Beaux-Arts" no longer suficed to hold the event and in 2004 the Belgium Antiques Fair moved to the Tour & Taxis industrial site in the Noordwijk district of Brussels alongside the Willebroek canal.
This change permited to increase the number of participants to near 120, a steep improvement from the original 20 participants at the outset and a statement of BRAFA's importance at an international level.

Over the years the fair has also embraced modern and contemporary art, preparing itself for the 21st century. Because the name “Belgian Antiques Fair” or “Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique” no longer reflected this development, in 2007 the fair was renamed BRAFA or Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair.
The Belgian Antiques Fair not-for-profit association was placed under the High Protection of Her Majesty the Queen on 30 September 2009.

The fair will include antiquities, oceanic art, African art, Oriental art, silver, antique jewellery, furniture and works of art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, curiosities, ceramics, earthenware and porcelain, drawings, engravings, old masters, modern painting, sculpture, carpets, tapestry, antique and modern books, numismatic, contemporary painting and sculpture, photography.

Counting with the presence of 130 dealers, the BRAFA's 56th edition is expected to receive around 38,000 visitors.

Held in the Tour & Taxis in the heart of Brussels, the fair will run from 21 to 30 January 2011 (11am to 7pm). Late night opening on Tuesday 25 and Thursday 27 January 2011 until 10.30 pm.
Guided tours: daily at 3 pm.
A catalogue with 600 pages is available for €10.

The Museum Mayer van den Bergh will be this year's guest of honour and will exhibit twenty works of art that will include The Adoration of the Shepherds by Jacob Jordaens, an antiquities-styled Maria-Magdalena by Jan Gossaert, and the life-size portraits of the Vekemans family painted by Cornelis de Vos.