As the global art market continues to diversify and celebrate artists from all over the world, Sotheby’s is excited to announce that later this year it will open a new German headquarters. With offices already present in Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, the auction house has announced plans to expand its presence in Germany with a new headquarters in one of its major art hub, Cologne.
Sotheby’s will inaugurate a new sale center located at the city’s recently renovated historic Palais Oppenheim, in the neighborhood of Bayenthal this fall. It will become the auction house’s sixth selling location in Europe, alongside those in London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, and Milan.
Building on the company’s over fifty-year-long history in the country, Sotheby’s location in Cologne will offer a global platform to local works, with sales sales largely focusing on Modern & Contemporary Art, Design, Photography and Ultra Contemporary works by artists from Germany and surrounding countries who, until now, have rarely appeared in Sotheby’s auction rooms before.
The new location at Cologne will be inaugurated in September with a sale which will feature works by artists such as Otto Piene, Markus Lüpertz, Rudolf Jahns, Adolf Fleischmann, and Walter Ströhe. All the works will also be available for online bidding. In November, the house will auction works by emerging artists under the title “NOW.”
Sotheby’s has appointed Eva Donnerhack, a longtime Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art specialist, to serve as head of sales in Germany. Barbara Guarnieri and Joelle Romba will head its Cologne and Berlin offices, respectively. They will work alongside Bastienne Leuthe, who has been appointed as head of contemporary art in Germany.
Sotheby’s first established an office in Cologne in 1982. The German city is home to a wide-reaching network of dealers, as well as Art Cologne, one of the oldest art fairs in the world.
Sotheby’s is not the only auction house eyeing the region for further expansion. In November, Phillips announced it was looking to grow its footprint in the region, appointing a Munich-based contemporary art specialist, Tobias Sirtl, to focus on Germany.
With the new space in Cologne, Sotheby’s will be the only major auction house with a German sale center.