German representation at Art Basel this year is as strong as ever. While most participating galleries hail from the US (around 70 of them), Germany comes in second with more than 40. Since last year, Art Basel\u2019s flagship fair in Switzerland has been led by Maike Cruse, who was born in the German city of Bielefeld. Works by many German artists appear in Basel as well\u2014including Katharina Grosse\u2019s large-scale, site-specific installation at the Messeplatz, as well as pieces by Martin Kippenberger at Galerie Gisela Capitain\u2019s stand, Tim Eitel at Eigen + Art and Jana Schr\u00f6der at Meyer Riegger.<\/p>\n
Maike Cruse, the German-born director of Art Basel\u2019s Swiss edition Photo: Debora Mittelstaedt; courtesy of Art Basel<\/p>\n
While Germany may lack mega galleries, it is home to several highly respected spaces\u2014such as Galerie Max Hetzler\u2014that originated in Berlin and have since expanded internationally, earning global recognition. Some of the world\u2019s most sought-after living artists, like Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer, are German. As are renowned collectors like Reinhard Ernst, Julia Stoschek and the Plattner family. Cruse describes Germany as \u201ca leading arts ecosystem in Europe that plays a vital role in Art Basel in Basel as the fifth-largest art market in Europe, together with Switzerland\u201d.<\/p>\n
Historically, Germany has always been a place of artistic innovation. The country\u2019s relatively robust economic climate has also helped bolster its current standing in the global art world\u2014a point made by the dealer Gerd Harry Lybke when reflecting on his home country\u2019s strong presence in Basel. \u201cGermany is less susceptible to the ups and downs of the art market,\u201d he tells The Art Newspaper. \u201cCompared to other locations, it is very stable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this position may be at risk. Berlin\u2019s cultural budget was cut by \u20ac130m (amounting to 12%) this year. An additional \u20ac15m in cuts is already planned for 2026. For years, Berlin has ranked just behind New York in the number of galleries represented at Art Basel. But this year, it slipped to third place, overtaken by London. Berlin has 28 galleries at the fair, while New York and London are represented by 50 and 35, respectively. But the gallerist Saskia Draxler of Nagel Draxler remains positive. \u201cThe avant-garde always inhabits the corners that are not in the spotlight,\u201d she says. \u201cNow that funding is decreasing, which many people rightly complain about, resilience is increasing and artists are becoming freer. Berlin is so much more than \u2018cultural funding\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jana Schr\u00f6der\u2019s FRONTRACK PSY LaVa (2024) at Meyer Riegger Photo: Johannes Bendzulla; courtesy of the artist and Meyer Riegger<\/p>\n
Due to its unique history of territorial fragmentation, Germany is far less centralised than neighbouring countries like France. Several cities\u2014most notably Munich and Cologne\u2014have established themselves as strongholds of the German art world. Still, stepping into Berlin\u2019s shoes will not be easy. \u201cMunich has always been considered more of a \u2018B city\u2019 from an international perspective, and its outstanding institutions have not been able to change that,\u201d Draxler says. But why should there be city rivalry anyway? Isn\u2019t cultural comradery more beneficial?<\/p>\n
As everywhere, there are friends and enemies, collaboration and distance <\/p>\n
Saskia Draxler, Nagel Draxler<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
When asked whether a special type of relationship exists among German-speaking gallerists at the fair, galleries\u2019 answers reveal a rather reserved attitude. \u201cAs everywhere, there are friends and enemies, collaboration and distance,\u201d Draxler says. \u201cBut of course, the competition is tough. However, you are not competing with the Germans in particular, but with the entire spectrum of gallery owners.\u201d When asked about comradery among German-speakers, many galleries choose not to respond. The historical tensions between Germans, Swiss and Austrians are a familiar trope, but it appears that even among German galleries, there is not much closeness at Art Basel.<\/p>\n
Monika Spr\u00fcth, one of the most prominent German gallerists, counters the question by aiming to trace German identity in the arts. \u201cBerlin, in particular, shows how permeable borders have become,\u201d she says. \u201cArtists from all over the world live here and shape the scene. Visibility is created less through nationality than through international networks, discourses and institutional presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nina Hanz of ChertL\u00fcdde says: \u201cWhile there may have once been more pronounced regional preferences, the art world has become increasingly globalised, and as a result, these national distinctions are becoming less significant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umlauts in gallery names may be the last obvious giveaways of Germanness at the fair, making space for a borderless art community. Given recent developments in the art world (and the world at large), this attitude is understandable\u2014yet it becomes contradictory when confronted with the political realities of topics like funding for the arts.<\/p>\n
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Gerd Harry Lybke, the founder of Galerie Eigen + Art, which was temporarily ousted from the fair in 2011 Felix Horhager\/dpa\/Alamy Live News<\/p>\n
Germans are not typically known for public scandal, but in 2011 the unthinkable happened at Art Basel. Gerd Harry Lybke, the influential and widely respected founder of Galerie Eigen + Art, which had exhibited at the fair for many years, was suddenly not invited back. Art Basel\u2019s selection committee, responsible for this decision, included six art dealers\u2014three of whom were fellow Berlin gallerists. The incident exposed the undercurrents of rivalry and exclusion in the art world. In Germany, the public largely rallied behind Lybke. Today, Art Basel\u2019s committee has grown to eight members with just one German representative, B\u00e4rbel Trautwein (who is a Berliner). Meanwhile, Lybke\u2019s gallery remains as important as ever, and will be showing at this year\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n
Even though the issue seems long resolved, not one German gallerist was willing to comment on what happened 14 years ago. In this reaction lies the cultural difference between German and American mentalities: the American instinct is to smooth things over\u2014apologise, make amends publicly and move on\u2014while the German approach is often to carry on as if nothing happened, hoping the issue will quietly fade from memory.<\/p>\n
Still, there is some praise reserved for fellow countrymen and women. Lybke says that what differentiates German collectors is \u201ciconographic interpretation combined with a strong sense of history\u201d. Philomene Magers, a co-owner of Spr\u00fcth Magers gallery, calls the German art scene \u201csmart, critical and internationally connected\u201d. Jochen Meyer of Meyer Riegger, showing at Art Basel for the 28th time this year, acknowledges the \u201cstrength and diversity of the German gallery scene and the consistency of German collectors\u201d.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s nickname is \u201cthe country of poets and thinkers\u201d (Das Land der Dichter und Denker), after all. And most German gallerists say that Art Basel remains their favourite art fair\u2014the \u201chighlight of the year\u201d, as Draxler puts it. Comradery or not, it must all be well worth it in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German representation at Art Basel this year is as strong as ever. While most participating galleries hail from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[78721,9929,68838,2000,299,1824,78722],"class_list":{"0":"post-192751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-art-basel-2025","9":"tag-art-market","10":"tag-commercial-galleries","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-katharina-grosse"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114700958087402294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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