Laure Prouvost receives the Art Antwerp Acquisition Prize 2025 on the opening day of the fair

Art Antwerp, the contemporary art fair organized by Art Brussels, opened its doors today, Thursday, December 11, with a festive atmosphere. Until Sunday, December 14, the fair is presenting work from some 270 artists, represented by 79 galleries from 11 countries, at Antwerp Expo.

New to the fair is the Art Antwerp Acquisition Prize, a prize supported by Bank Delen, which makes it possible to donate a work of art at the fair to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).

The jury for the Art Antwerp Acquisition Prize 2025, consisting of Joost Vanhaerents, private collector (Brussels), Christian Mosar, artistic director of the Konschthal Esch (Luxembourg), Lisa van Gerven, curator at the KMSKA (Antwerp), and Annelien De Troij, curator at the KMSKA (Antwerp), selected the work Sweaty Cuddle by French artist Laure Prouvost, represented at the fair by Galerie Nathalie Obadia.

Other new features at this year's fair include free guided tours in English and Dutch and an Art Advisory Desk, a service that helps the public find their way around the fair and engage in conversation with the participating galleries with confidence.

In addition to the stands, a selection of large-scale installations will be presented in the aisles, adding a spatial and sculptural dimension to the fair's layout.

The Art Antwerp Acquisition Prize, supported by Delen Private Bank, goes to Laure Prouvost

Statement of the jury
(Joost Vanhaerents, Christian Mosar, Lisa van Gerven and Annelien De Troij)

Choosing always means letting something go, especially when there is so much compelling work to consider—from young talents to emerging artists and established names.

The shortlist was long, but the jury took the time to look at each of the preselected works individually.

For the KMSKA, it was especially important that a genuine dialogue could emerge between the new work and the museum’s existing collection. We are therefore delighted that, thanks to Art Antwerp and Private Bank Delen, we can add a new work to the KMSKA’s collection.

The selected piece is made from mirror material—a mirror that not only reflects, but also creates perspective, acting as a window onto society. The fact that the artist is a woman, who lived in Antwerp for many years before moving to Brussels, makes this choice all the more resonant.

For the KMSKA, it is essential to give contemporary artists a meaningful place within the collection. They are like companions: they help us see the past, the present, and the future differently. They add new layers of meaning and build on a rich artistic tradition.

The final choice fell on ‘Sweaty Cuddle’, by the French artist Laure Prouvost, represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Brussels and Paris. Her work often explores themes such as miscommunication, memory, identity, language, imagination, and the dissolving of boundaries between reality and fiction.

Within her broader oeuvre, Prouvost investigates confusion, dreams, and a playful, associative logic. The Mirror Paintings fit perfectly within this framework: by incorporating mirrors, the boundary between image and viewer, between interior and reflection, fiction and reality, becomes beautifully blurred.

Prouvost alludes to the classic "vista" of the old masters and the trompe l'oeil tradition, from Jan Van Eyck and Velázquez to Pistoletto. But in this work, she replaced the beauty of an idealised landscape with a confrontational mirror featuring a painted faded, vanishing flower.

Laure Prouvost is already an established artist. She received the Max Mara Prize for Women in 2011 and the Turner Prize in 2013. In 2018, her work was presented at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and in 2019 she represented France at the Venice Biennale. Since then, her work has continued to appear in major exhibitions worldwide, including solo presentations at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen (2021), the De Pont Museum in Tilburg (2024), and ACCA in Melbourne (2024).

Looking ahead, she will receive a major solo exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2026—further testimony to her international significance.

Various parties have made efforts to achieve this acquisition, partly with the support of Private Bank Delen.

The KMSKA is delighted with this collaboration. Together with Art Antwerp, we have succeeded in adding work by a contemporary artist to the museum collection.

The jury wishes the KMSKA every success with this acquisition, and we look forward to seeing the context in which this work will be presented in the future.