#Art: La BRAFA sophistication

Adorned by the Ghent Floralies, the 61st edition of the Brussels Art Fair excelled in its presentation of the highest-quality objects by 137 galleries, which responded to the most demanding collector's taste.

Traditionally galleries in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom constitute the core of the fair, attracting loyal collectors from corresponding countries, a solid bond that also inspires newcomers from afar. Every year, the waiting list of art dealers eager to participate is becoming longer, as is the number of the art pilgrims, fascinated by the event's opulence.

Eclectic and versatile, the Brussels Art Fair strikes the imagination of visitors – Ghent Floralies has designed a setting for exhibitors, successfully matching two centuries of flower festivals and 60 years of the art exhibition.

Brugge florist Mark Colle's mise-en-scène for works of art released in co-operation with designers Dries Van Noten and Dior has produced an astonishing composition that resembles a mirage of an oasis in an urban setting at Tour & Taxi.

The floating flowers were more than a decoration, they were a veritable celebration of a decade of partnership with Delen Private Bank, which continues to play a significant role in supporting and promoting the fair and re-election of La BRAFA's president Harold t'Kint de Roodenbeke for the next three years.

''La BRAFA is more than ever eager to preserve its eclecticism, mix its treasures, and demonstrate the splendour of this fusion,'' explained t'Kint de Roodenbeke, promising to keep this special approach in the fair's profile, distinguishing it from other art events, in which artefacts are assembled in sections, allowing collectors and visitors to focus on their favourite genre, but often missing an introduction to the new - this is the adventure offered by la BRAFA.

La BRAFA offers a magic of its own kind, mixing ages, styles, materials and attitude and as a result achieving a galvanizing cocktail of an imaginative flight through the epochs, with caprices of vogues, paradoxes and futuristic experimentation. The universality of La BRAFA is breath-taking.

Although not formally structured, the fair has sections representing paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, books, jewellery and furniture.

The Flemish old masters remain a point of reference in the fair, catching the visitor's eye with the œuvres of Breughel and his school; moving further thorough space to modern masters such as Paul Delveaux and Pierre Alechinsky, which represent the continuity of the splendours of the Belgian visual art tradition.

However, the hosts are famed not only for their own visual sophistication but for a great passion for African art, represented in variety and splendour, inspiring the art museum's directors to  purchase the masterpieces to compete with the collectors. African art – an intrinsic element of La BRAFA – connects prime arts with contemporary creations, through a continuity of exchanges between continents, civilizations and cultures.

The admirers of modern and contemporary masters have many opportunities not only to contemplate their favourites but trace dialogues between cultures and points of inspiration.

The La BRAFA story would not be full without mentioning the art-to-wear – a picturesque flock of art-lovers flaunting in design clothes and glittering with jewellery, who move from gallery to gallery honouring the fair with their presence.

Many stream into the jewellery stands, representing an astonishing variety, with ancient pieces from prehistoric times to 21st century fantasies destined to embellish contemporary connoisseurs of objects to wear.

However, it is the cultivation of a fine arts climate that is the biggest achievement and work in progress of La BRAFA – once a fair for collectors, it became an international event with an unrivalled educational significance in the aesthetics of visual creation and the œuvre d'art as an encoded message of dreams and aspirations of ideals, passing from generation to generation.

Those who would like to can carry away the catalogue of the best of La BRAFA 2016, while awaiting the next La BRAFA.

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