Michael Werner and Gordon VeneKlasen are ending their partnership at the start of 2023, dissolving one of the art world's longest and most influential dealer collaborations. The two will operate separately—Werner continuing his Berlin gallery, VeneKlasen launching a new international venture that takes over the New York, London, and Los Angeles locations they've built together.
It's a significant shift in the contemporary art market. VeneKlasen joined Michael Werner Gallery in 1990 and became a partner in 2005, helping drive its expansion beyond its German base into major global art hubs. Over 35 years, the partnership became synonymous with representing some of postwar Europe's most important painters: Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck, and Sigmar Polke among them. The gallery also championed conceptual and contemporary artists—from Marcel Broodthaers to James Lee Byars to today's emerging painters like Issy Wood and Sanya Kantarovsky.
Werner's own history stretches back further still. He opened his first gallery in Berlin in 1963, then established Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne in 1969, laying the groundwork decades before VeneKlasen came on board. That long arc—from post-war Germany to a genuinely international operation—reflects how the art market itself has shifted over half a century.
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Start Your News DetoxThe split isn't acrimonious. Both dealers said they'll continue collaborating on select artist projects and museum exhibitions, particularly around the historical artists Werner represents. But the separation signals a natural evolution: VeneKlasen's vision for the international galleries has diverged from Werner's focus on his Berlin base, and rather than stretch the tension further, they're making a clean break.
The question now is how their artist roster splits. Peter Doig, whom Werner represented for 23 years, already departed in 2023—a signal of the shifting landscape. Neither dealer has announced which contemporary and historical artists will follow them into their separate operations, leaving the art world watching to see how one of its most stable partnerships reallocates its considerable influence.
The changes take effect in February 2023, marking the end of an era in how this corner of the art market has been run.
