Meet Nathalie Berghege, Director, Galerie Lelong & Co. and Luxembourg Art Week Selection Committee Member
She says she is literally, "inhabited" by art. A state of fever led her to the Galerie Lelong & Co. in the 8th arrondissement, the historic gallery district of Paris. It is in this legendary place which in the 1980s exhibited the likes of Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies and Francis Bacon, that Nathalie Berghege has spent over twenty years exercising her profession.
It all began the day she discovered sculptures by Louise Bourgeois at the Musée d'art Moderne in Paris. Intrigued by the works of the nonagenarian, the then student at the École de Louvre decided to devote her final thesis in museology to her. The young woman subsequently left for New York to talk to the artist, which she did for more than a week. Her time spent with the artist at her home in Chelsea was unforgettable; it was during this stay that she gathered the secrets of Louise Bourgeois’ creative process.
Then came the meeting with Jean Frémon which was to prove more less decisive for the rest of her career. He was the current President of the Galerie Lelong & Co., and, like her, a connoisseur of Bourgeois's work. He was indeed the first person to put her work on the map in Europe, in 1985, when she was still an unknown artist.
It is an elective affinity that leads Nathalie Berghege to promote and accompany the renowned artists of the prestigious Parisian label at the most important international fairs.
In joining the selection committee for this 2022 edition of Art Week, Nathalie Berghege continues the longstanding commitment to the event by Galerie Lelong & Co. which was present at the very first edition with a monographic exhibition of Etel Adnan. Other artists have been shown regularly ever since, such as MacArthur Binion in 2017 and the French artist Fabienne Verdier in 2021, both of whom were very well received by the Grand Duchy. She confides , "It's very nice to come to Luxembourg. The Luxembourg Art Week audience is very open and attentive. They are spontaneous, interested and very loyal. A relationship of trust has been built up over time. The collectors are touched that we come to them to present the latest from the artists we work with."
©F. Gibert