Christian Brechneff — Hal Bromm Gallery

Hal Bromm
90 West Broadway, 2nd floor
New York, NY, 10007
+1 212-732-6196

The gallery is currently closed for Summer Holiday.

We will reopen on September 10 with regular hours:
Tuesday–Saturday 12–5pm and by appointment

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Christian Brechneff b. 1950

Christian Brechneff was born in the Belgian Congo in 1950, raised in Switzerland, and later studied in the United States. In 1975, he received an MFA from London’s College of Art. Known internationally for his exuberantly expressive pastel and oil landscapes as well as his ruddy ink flower drawings, Brechneff has won numerous awards. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the globe, including Daniel Blaise Thorens Fine Art Gallery in Basel, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in Athens, Karouzou Gallery in Zurich, and now at Hal Bromm Gallery in Tribeca.

Brechneff began creating sunscapes from his rooftop on Sifnos, Greece, where he has lived each summer since the early 70s. His work moves seamlessly from sunrises to sunsets, continually deploying striking contrasts and fervent gestures. In 1999, he traveled to South Africa and continued to paint sunrises and sunsets in Rock Tail Bay and Kwa Zulu Natal, returning there again in 2000. The following year, determined to paint the Pacific Ocean, Brechneff traveled to Haramara, Mexico near Sayulito Puerto Vallarte to capture the depth of colors weaving the seemingly endless expanse of sea.

On his next quest, Brechneff stayed closer to New York City, drawing sunsets on Long Island and working from an oceanfront guest house among the dunes. Here, Brechneff created his warm East Hampton series in dry pastel. Tracking the sun’s changing reflections on the Aegean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Brechneff returned to the Caribbean Sea for his most recent Pic Paradis pastels.

An organic expansion for an artist obsessed with capturing the unstable forces of nature, Brechneff turned to painting the four seasons upon returning to Switzerland to capture the Swiss Alps in Sils Maria. He continued this theme when traveling to Venice, where he worked from the seafront in Giudecca.