Sotheby’s is honoured to present the Françoise Mayer and Marc Sohier collection for sale on 4 December. Comprising 74 works, the collection bears witness to the visionary career of Françoise Mayer, a leading figure in Brussels’ cultural scene. Between 1966 and 1975, within the walls of the legendary gallery located at 8 Rue du Monastère, Françoise Mayer was the first to truly support the avant-garde in Brussels, seeing in each artist she defended an exciting project of radical modernity.

The works in this collection form an ensemble of rare coherence, giving pride of place to abstraction, American abstract expressionism, spatialism and kinetic art. Featuring major works by artists such as Alexander Calder, Josef Albers, Kenneth Noland and Lucio Fontana, the Françoise Mayer and Marc Sohier collection is an ode to form, light and movement, offering a subtle selection of the avant-garde aesthetic of the 1960s-1970s. Beyond the rarity and artistic quality of the works, this collection reflects the taste and visionary personality of Françoise Mayer and her husband. It also testifies to the personal links the couple forged with the artists who accompanied them and were part of their daily lives, to the rhythm of the exhibitions and cultural events held in the Brussels gallery.

On this occasion, a selection of 20 works from the collection were exhibited in the Sotheby’s gallery. Among the top lots:

Alexander Calder, Polychrome Six, 1973 (Estimate: 300,000 – 500,000 EUR)

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: ‘Despite’, 1963 (Estimate: EUR 500,000 – 700,000)

Kenneth Noland, Paced, 1967 (Estimate: 200,000 – 300,000 EUR)

At the same time, an exceptional work by Pol Bury, 96 boules en perspective (1988), presented as part of the exhibition, was offered by the heirs Jean-Marc and Jérôme Sohier to the Musée d’Ixelles as a tribute to their parents. This work underlines the profoundly human and historical dimension of this sale. As Claire Leblanc, Director of the Musée d’Ixelles, pointed out:

‘The donation of the work ‘96 boules en perspective’, created by Pol Bury in 1988 for the Musée d’Ixelles collections, by Jean-Marc and Jérôme Sohier in honour of the memory of their parents Françoise Mayer (1935-2014) and Marc Sohier (1927-2024), is a remarkable acquisition. On the one hand, it completes the inventory with an exemplary piece by a major artist in the history of Belgian art, who is under-represented in the collections. Secondly – and in the long term – it will enable us to keep alive the memory of the Mayer-Sohier couple, who were both fervent connoisseurs and defenders of modern art, as well as invaluable supporters of the Musée d’Ixelles. An initial donation had already been made in 2015 by Marc Sohier with the work Spacescape (1963) by Paul Van Hoeydonck. It is with great emotion that the entire team will soon welcome the work to the museum and share it with the public when it reopens.’