Brussels – Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr is paying Tribute to Isabelle de Borchgrave in a live sale in Brussels on 17 June 2025. The 68-lot auction reflects Isabelle's creative spirit, always involved in the most exciting projects, crafting vibrant universes from the simplest of material: paper.

This renowned Belgian artist, who passed away in 2024, was mostly inspired by her travels, and crafted masterpieces from paper during her whole life. Her creations have been shown in major museums around the world and are part of renown permanent collections. Her work touches on art, fashion and design and covers over four decades.

Werner de Borchgrave, Isabelle's husband said: "Bebelle loved painting. It was an integral part of her life. When she was not feeling well, she painted. Painting was something necessary, for her it was as important as breathing. She loved to be able to see the depth of colours, their intensity. Colour is very therapeutic she was keeping saying."

Valentine Naslin, Head of the sale at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Brussels, said: "Isabelle de Borchgrave was a magician of material and color, and her influence can be seen in homes across Belgium and far beyond. It is a rare privilege to be auctioning her personal collection which includes examples of some of her pleated work and famous furniture designs, as well as her fascinating collection of works from her beloved studio in Brussels. The eclectic mix of items reveals Isabelle's great eye and gives a unique insight into the inspiration behind her creations. I'm sure this sale will spark much excitement for lovers of papers and design, and for all those who are inspired by Isabelle's incredible legacy."

Through various advanced techniques of painting and paper folding, she created masterpieces such as Black shore, a subtle work of proportion and folding on paper, which is part of her magnificent pleated series (estimate: €8,000-12,000).

Circus is the largest and part of this series of folded artworks she started working on as from 2010 (estimate: €15,000-25,000). Inspired by the pleating of Mariano Fortuny, from whom she made a collection of paper dresses in 2008, pleating became a real trademark for Isabelle de Borchgrave. She said "I was thrilled when the city of Venice offered me this project. Mariano Fortuny has always had a strong influence on my work, I consider him to be my spiritual father. Telling the story of his dresses and narrating his inspiration was a truly meaningful experience."

She created more than 650 pleated artworks, only a few of which are left on the market.

Her bronze sculpture is no exception to the pleated rule. Each bronze comes from an original work made out of paper. Soleil was originally a skirt she deployed and transformed into a luminous sculpture (estimate: €12,000-18,000). Her design furniture pieces came later in her exploration of bronze, but the wrinkling and creasing of the paper never left the design.

From her knowledge of art and her insatiable desire to find new forms of expression, her entire work is a constant back and forth between projects and techniques. Isabelle brings her paper creations beyond fashion to painting, furniture design and decoration, and was the subject of many exhibitions.

Isabelle's fascination in fabric and its representation throughout art history has also led her to produce impressive collections of dresses and objects. She has created and participated in an important number of exhibition where her mastery to own and reinterpret themes of projects was always a feast for the eyes. Inspired by The Silk Road, the Miao, (Estimate : €10,000-18,000) and Niki (estimate: €4,000-6,000) are a perfect illustration of her art: behind each garment, the paper becomes a subtle expression of textures, pleats, trims or jewels.

Isabelle was always travelling with notebooks. She has compiled a unique and intimate collection of drawings, paintings, sketching in a myriad of notebooks just as colourful, vibrant and alive, as she was. A confidential witness of some of her travels with Carnet de Voyage, testimony of time spent in Egypt is estimated at €10,000-15,000.

Highlights of the sale include:

• Garden tree, Mixed media acrylic and gouache on craft paper 350 cm x 85 cm (Estimate : €20,000-30,000). This painting was intended to be pleated, but Isabelle de Borchgrave decided to leave it as it was.
• Triple tables, signed and numbered 1/8 made of bronze. All bronze moulds are original paper creations (estimate : €25,000-35,000)
• Saveurs de Provence Set of more than 40 gouaches in a portfolio, testimony of her time spent in South of France (estimate: €10,000-15,000)
• Grande table basse ovale, Table in bronze (2/8 Edition + 4 AP) (estimate : €18,000-25,000)
• Platane a paper screen with acrylic and gouache 239 x 177,5 cm (estimate: €15,000-20,000). The folding screen can be fixed flat to the wall like a painting or placed as a folding screen on the floor. The reverse side is stencilled
• Four sculptures of the four seasons inspired by works by the painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo (Estimate : €10,000-20,000 each)

Biography of Isabelle de Borchgrave (1946-2024)

Born in 1946 in Etterbeek, Isabelle de Borchgrave was a prominent Belgian artist and sculptor, best known for her colourful paintings and intricately painted paper sculptures.

De Borchgrave started her studies age 14 at the Centre des Arts Décoratifs before graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Soon after graduating, she set up her own studio focusing on fashion and interior design, the artist regularly using the fabrics she worked on as a canvas for her art.

A major turning point in the artist's career came in 1994, when de Borchgrave began designing elaborate paper costumes. Combining her love of fashion, history and painting, she worked on four major collections in her now famous trompe-l'oeil.

The first collection entitled 'Papiers à la Mode', a collaboration between the artist and Canadian costume designer Rita brown, covered 300 years of fashion history from Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel.

As the collection travelled across the world from 1998 to 2008, the artist expanded the collection, creating and adding more costumes from the wardrobes of Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, the Empress Eugenie, the consort of Napoleon III, or the Ottoman kaftans.

From the Fashion Institute in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, to the Flanders Fashion Institute in Antwerp and the Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the traveling exhibition drew in hundreds of thousands of museum-goers over a decade.

The second collection, 'Mariano Fortuny', delved into 19th Century Venice with a particular focus on elaborate patterns, finely pleated robes and precious veils, damasks and silks. Then followed 'I Medici', a trompe-l'œil installation of famous Florentine figures in the ceremonial dresses of the Renaissance, with intricate gold braiding, pearls and velvet. Finally, 'Ballets Russes' where de Borchgrave paid tribute to Sergei Diaghilev, Pablo Picasso, Léon Bakst, and Henri Matisse, who all designed for the famous ballet company.

Although now renown for her paper creations, Isabelle de Borchgrave never ceased painting and sculpting. Alternating from canvas to paper, and paper to bronze, her colourful paintings and delicate sculptures have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Japan, Brazil, the U.K. and the U.S. from 1979 to this day.

Isabelle de Borchgrave has also collaborated as a fashion and interior designer with the likes of Givenchy, Comme des Garçons, Christian Dior, Hermès, Villeroy & Boch, Pierre Frey, Lanvin, or Caspari to name but a few.