Michaël Borremans

Michaël Borremans (born 1963, Geraardsbergen, Belgium) is a Belgian painter, draughtsman, and filmmaker whose work is characterised by psychological tension, theatrical staging, and a painterly language rooted in the history of European figurative art. Working primarily in oil on canvas, Borremans creates images of isolated or grouped figures in ambiguous, often unsettling situations — suspended between action and stillness, presence and absence, the familiar and the uncanny.

His paintings draw on sources ranging from Velázquez and Goya to early photography and cinema, producing images that feel simultaneously historical and contemporary. His film works, including Taking Turns (2009) and Fire from the Sun (2017), extend his painterly concerns into moving image, exploring repetition, ritual, and the staged body. Borremans has been represented by David Zwirner since the early 2000s and has exhibited internationally at institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Kunsthalle Wien, and the Palazzo Grassi, Venice.

This collection brings together exhibition ephemera and printed matter connected to Borremans’s practice and institutional presentations.

  • Reverse of 2009 Michaël Borremans Taking Turns David Zwirner New York exhibition invitation card showing pale cream-white ground with small caption at upper right in light grey serif type reading 'Taking Turns, 2009 (film still) / 35mm film transferred to DVD'; centred lower half with 'Michaël Borremans' in large light serif type, 'Taking Turns' in smaller italic below, exhibition dates 'February 24 through / March 25, 2009', reception 'February 24, 2009, 6 to 8 pm', and 'David Zwirner' in bold serif with a Front of 2009 Michaël Borremans Taking Turns David Zwirner exhibition invitation card showing a near-square colour film still from Taking Turns (2009), 35mm film transferred to DVD: two figures seen from behind in close proximity, both with short blonde hair, wearing dark clothing, their heads slightly turned toward each other against a very dark, almost black background; the image is soft-focus and atmospherically lit, creating a sense of psychological tension, doubling, and uneasy intimacy.

    Michaël Borremans — Taking Turns — Exhibition Invitation Card, David Zwirner, New York, 2009

    Michaël Borremans — Taking Turns — Exhibition Invitation Card, David Zwirner, New York, 2009