My name is Nathalie. I am 43 years old and the owner of an art gallery with a shop. I own a beautiful gallery. When you walk into my store, on the left there is a shop with affordable assorted one-off pieces. Through the small hallway straight ahead you reach the small, fine gallery.

With a lot of love and a loan, 12 years ago I began to exhibit my works. I draw on pop art and like to incorporate bold advertising from the 60s and 70s. Pop stars of the 70s and 80s also play a big role in my works; the well-known Disney characters can't be missing either.

But the shutdown and the continued slump brought me to the brink within a few months. I never could have dreamed it would happen this fast. Out of nowhere I lost almost everything. Buyers are holding back heavily and now I unfortunately have to think about bankruptcy auctions. Because there is one thing I don't want:

  • to lose my condo
  • to stop driving a car
  • to no longer know how to feed my kids

No mercy from the landlord

Neither my private landlord nor the owner of my gallery space is willing to back off the high rents. They are probably very sure they will find replacement tenants without any problem. Maybe they are even right. If I pursue the bankruptcy auctions, I would still take in enough money.

Nobody can tell us how the pandemic will ultimately continue. Is a second shutdown coming? They always say it should be avoided at all costs. But I don't believe in anything anymore. A year ago nobody would have dreamed what would happen. If someone had told me that I would be looking into bankruptcy auctions, I probably would have declared them insane.

Since I have two girls aged 10 and 14, I have to think ahead. From my children's father I only get the minimum child support. He can't pay any more either. Now and then he buys them something to wear, when he can. It is just terrible. If I knew it would be over in three months, I would push through it all.

Bankruptcy auctions could be a new chance for me, too

It is quite possible that I would make high profits and could live off them for a while once everything is paid. Then I could start over and look at cheaper spaces where I could restart with my gallery. These are my thoughts and they should be well thought through before it finally comes to bankruptcy auctions.

I talk a lot with friends, who help me enormously. They also want to help me out with money privately. But I don't want that!