BRAFA (Brussels Art Fair) is one of Europe's oldest and most prestigious art and antique fairs, held annually at Tour & Taxis. FFGR Belgium coordinates VIP transport, private gallery access, and collector programmes for the duration of the fair.
BRAFA — the Brussels Art Fair — has been held annually since 1956, making it one of the oldest art fairs in Europe. It operates in the Tour & Taxis complex in the north of Brussels, a former Royal Depot building of considerable architectural drama (the central hall spans 150 metres under a vaulted iron-and-glass roof). The fair typically runs for nine days in late January or early February, attracting approximately 130 galleries from across Europe and North America, presenting objects from antiquity through the 20th century.
The BRAFA model differs from contemporary art fairs such as Art Brussels or Frieze in its breadth of period and medium. A single walking circuit of the fair can encompass Egyptian antiquities, Renaissance bronzes, Flemish Old Masters, 18th-century European furniture, Impressionist works, Art Nouveau glass, mid-century design objects, and Post-War paintings. This breadth attracts a different collector profile from the contemporary-only fairs: private collectors building encyclopaedic collections, museum acquisitions teams, and institutional buyers from foundations and heritage organisations. The fair also functions as a dealer-to-dealer marketplace, with significant transactions occurring in the private meeting rooms behind the stands.
FFGR Belgium provides two categories of service for BRAFA. The first is straightforward: VIP transport from hotel to Tour & Taxis and return, with the vehicle holding during the visit. Tour & Taxis has a dedicated drop-off circuit for official vehicles, and FFGR Belgium's drivers are registered for access to this circuit, avoiding the standard external parking areas. The second category is the collector programme: a structured BRAFA visit of two to three hours, preceded by a 20-minute briefing from our art advisory contact on the dealers and specific works of interest based on the collector's profile, and followed by transport to a private gallery visit in the Sablon district.
For clients who are serious collectors — attending BRAFA not as visitors but as buyers — FFGR Belgium can coordinate logistics around the acquisition process: transport of the object to a storage facility or directly to the client's residence, introduction to a Brussels specialist in art insurance and export documentation, and, for significant acquisitions, discreet transport with a CPO (Close Protection Officer) in the vehicle.
BRAFA preview events and VIP openings, which typically occur on the Saturday and Sunday before the public opening, are accessible by invitation from participating galleries. FFGR Belgium can facilitate introduction to several gallery contacts who issue preview invitations to clients whose profile is appropriate to their inventory.