BERKO FINE PAINTINGS

Born into a family of art and antique dealers, Patrick Berko has nurtured his passion for the Academic, Realist, Orientalist and Romantic schools of painting, as well as works from the early 20th century Belle Époque period. With his wife, Viviane, he has opened galleries in Knokke – Le Zoute (1976), Paris (1978), Brussels (1983), Antwerp (1984), New York (1987), Tokyo (1989) and Shanghai (2008). Specialists in quality European paintings, Patrick and Viviane Berko share their passion with their children, Maximin and Irina and Irina’s husband, Count Nicolas de Waziers, who has brought a new impulse to the gallery. Purchasing high-quality 19th century paintings has become so difficult today that the Berko family, a regular participant in the world’s most prestigious art fairs for half a century, decided to retain only the parent gallery, in Knokke-Heist (Knokke – Le Zoute), just 15 minutes from Bruges, Belgium’s famous ‘Venice of the North’. Experienced art collectors as well as amateur art enthusiasts from all over the world visit the Berko Gallery regularly. In Paris, 2001, Patrick Berko was made Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature), by the Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. Over the last 40 years, they have published a number of art books and dictionaries.