Three of the art world's most established players—Pace Gallery, Emmanuel Di Donna, and David Schrader—are betting that the future belongs to collaboration, not competition. Their new venture, Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries (PDS), launches January 1, 2026, with a physical space opening on New York's Upper East Side this summer.
The move signals a shift in how the highest tiers of the art market operate. Rather than fighting over the same collectors and estates, these three heavyweights are pooling their strengths: Pace's global network and institutional credibility built over fifty years, Di Donna's museum-quality expertise in secondary-market sales, and Schrader's decade spent building Sotheby's private sales division.
"The obsession with competition has gotten us into a low margin, high overhead arms race that benefits neither the artists nor the clients," Marc Glimcher, Pace's founder, said of the shift. "Progress will come not from relitigating old rivalries, but from recombining strengths."
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Start Your News DetoxWhat makes PDS unusual isn't its size—it's deliberately boutique—but its structure. Rather than a traditional merger, the three are creating what Di Donna describes as "a holistic experience" that bundles auctions, private sales, collection building, and institutional relationships under one roof. Schrader frames it as a "strategic and structural response to a market that has outgrown its old architecture."
The art market at this level has historically resisted cooperation. Dealers guard their collector relationships fiercely, and the idea of sharing access or expertise runs counter to decades of siloed operations. That PDS exists at all suggests something has shifted—perhaps the realization that serving ultra-high-net-worth collectors and navigating complex estates requires more than any single gallery can offer alone.
The venture opens with a major historical exhibition planned for autumn 2026. If it succeeds, it could demonstrate that innovation at the upper end of the art market doesn't always mean bigger or flashier—sometimes it means smarter collaboration.
