Expertise, competence, trust

Everyone at Grisebach is dedicated to these core principles guiding our work – driven by a passion for art that ensures they always maintain a fresh approach. The joy of sharing the experience of remarkable art with like-minded individuals, and of being part of a network of collectors and researchers devoted to this same passion, has been fundamental to our auction house since it was founded four decades ago. It remains the true reward for our work, beyond commercial considerations. Between the publication of our new auction catalogues and the auctions themselves, the villa transforms into a temporary museum: a space holding unexpected discoveries, some even leading to the redefinition of art history.

Lifting spirits

Anyone who has ever visited us at Fasanenstraße soon realises that art always comes first. “Every time I come here, it lifts my spirits,” wrote Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel in our guestbook. For thirty years, countless members of the international Grisebach community have felt the same way. The villa’s doors are always wide open to the international community of serious art enthusiasts. A sense of family is a defining feature of our business.

Grisebach’s success as a marketplace for our clients is due in no small part to our identity as an ambitious research centre. Modern art history and responsible art dealing operate according to the same principles. The ideal outcome is a transparent and thoroughly researched “biography” for every work of art. Berlin is the perfect location for research into the origin, impact and provenance of artworks. We work within easy reach of the city’s major museums and are part of one of the world’s densest networks of art and cultural history research. It is therefore the ideal location for fast research and top-calibre expertise. Compared with the “tankers” in the global art market, Grisebach is a “sleek speedboat”. (Bernd Schultz).

Genius Loci

Familiarity does not conflict with internationality at the villa. The Hanseatic roots of our founder have provided Grisebach with a cosmopolitan spirit that predates the recent globalisation of the art market. Berlin has once again become what Grisebach’s founders wished for nearly three decades ago: a truly cosmopolitan city of culture. Fostering friendships through art and culture, remaining mindful of history and passing on the finest Berlin has to offer with an enlightened spirit of curiosity and tolerance – that is the guiding ethos of the auction house.

Global impact

Grisebach can justifiably claim to have played a major role in promoting the international reputation of German Impressionism and Expressionism, as well as the art of Realism and New Objectivity. This contribution to public appreciation of German Classical Modernism art has significant cultural-historical significance, and the auction house is widely recognised as an authority in this field and in the history of collecting. Museums, private collectors and research institutes alike draw on the expertise of Grisebach’s many specialists.

The Grisebach network

Grisebach’s enduring success rests, above all, on the tireless dedication, endless curiosity and extensive experience of the Grisebach family. Our outstanding reputation is built on close relationships with collectors, experts, institutions, artists, restorers and provenance researchers, both in Germany and around the world. This network now encompasses 30,000 individuals. It extends from Europe to the United States, via Latin America, the Middle and Far East, all the way to Australia. In addition to our teams at the representative offices in Düsseldorf, Munich and Zurich, our representatives in Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart are always available to provide confidential, discreet advice and non-binding appraisals of works of art.

Expansion of the auction programme

Realising that the history of 19th- and 20th-century art cannot be understood without the impact of photography, Grisebach began regularly auctioning significant photographs in 1998. In spring 2018, Diandra Donecker and her team achieved the highest hammer price for a vintage print in Germany to date with the unique photogram Ohne Titel by László Moholy-Nagy (1923/25).

In recent years, the auction programme has been expanded, particularly with the contemporary art genre, reflecting the recognition that the global resurgence of contemporary German painting is bringing a new form of German classical modernism into focus.

Grisebach has also broadened its range of 19th-century art offerings, and has been holding dedicated auctions for this genre of art since 2011. Dr Anna Ahrens and her team are playing a key role in the revival of this art epoch.

In the autumn of 2012, the ORANGERIE Selected Objects department was established under the direction of Dr Stefan Körner. Collectible art trade objects, spanning from antiquity to modern times, were offered for sale in dedicated auctions until 2019.

Commercial success

The concept, the new style and the focus on a confidently mastered domain of art history were immediately well received by collectors at the time of Grisebach’s establishment. The business was already turning a profit in its first year. What proved particularly important was the cultivation of relationships founded on mutual trust with the villa staff, consignors, experts and collectors.

“Grisebach” quickly became synonymous with spectacular hammer prices and interesting discoveries. In 1988, Lyonel Feininger’s Raddampfer II (1928) set the first world record, selling for 2.4 million marks. In 1989, Franz Marc’s Fabeltier gouache, estimated at 450,000 marks, grossed 3.0 million marks. Adolph von Menzel’s Berlin painting Der Schafgraben from 1846 sold for a gross price of 1.3 million euros in 2003, the first world record price for the German artist. His Stehende Rüstungen later sold for an even more impressive hammer price of 3.3 million euros at the 19th Century Art auction in autumn 2014. Similarly, Max Beckmann’s portrait of a woman, Anni sold in 2005 for a gross price of 3.9 million euros, the most expensive work of art ever to be sold at auction in Germany. In spring 2018, his mysterious Ägypterin was knocked down for a sensational 5.5 million euros.

Grisebach made art market history on 1 December 2022, when Max Beckmann’s remarkable Selbstbildnis gelb-rosa sold for a sensational 23.2 million euros, the highest hammer price ever recorded at a German auction. It was purchased by a Swiss buyer, who managed to fend off other bidders in five countries.

In October 2018, the spectacular Bernd Schultz collection “Abschied und Neuanfang” was auctioned off in support of an exile museum in Berlin raising 6.5 million euros.

Foundation and founders

At the beginning of 1986, five art dealers came together in Berlin to establish a new-style auction house. Berlin appeared to the founders as the ideal location to create an international platform for German art. 

The inspiration and driving force was Bernd Schultz, the son of a Bremen merchant, who had been influenced by Hans Pels-Leusden’s artistic vision while still an apprentice at Bankhaus Lampe, joined his art dealership as a student trainee, and ultimately became a partner in 1975.

Hans Pels-Leusden (1908–1993), dealer and painter, collector and founder of the Berlin Kollwitz Museum, had many personal connections with the artists of German modernism. His credo: “An art lover has to be passionate about art.”

Wilfried Utermann is the fourth generation to run Galerie Utermann in Dortmund, which was founded in 1853 and is the oldest family-owned art dealership in Germany. Since 1970, it has specialised in Expressionism and Classical Modernism art, especially Lyonel Feininger, Christian Rohlfs and the artists of the Brücke. 

Raimund Thomas has been focusing on classical modernism at his gallery since 1964. In the traditionally conservative city of Munich, he has succeeded in continuing the tradition of the great Munich modernist dealers Goltz, Thannhauser, Franke and Stangl.

Michael Neumann in Düsseldorf, a passionate advocate of classical modernism, had a deep and varied knowledge of the art world. He developed an early interest in photography, and his enthusiasm for Contemporary Art was infectious.

Bernd Schultz remains a partner to this day. The managing directors – Daniel von Schacky, Diandra Donecker, Micaela Kapitzky and Dr Markus Krause – are also shareholders in the company.

A new style

Founding the company in 1986 was a gamble. From August 1961 onwards, Berlin had been divided by the construction of the Berlin Wall and was economically weakened, with art being traded primarily in Cologne, in Munich and on the international stage. Nevertheless, Bernd Schultz had the vision of an internationally renowned auction house of the highest standard. He drew inspiration from the 1920s – the heyday of Jewish art dealers and collectors – which came to an abrupt end in 1933. Bringing this vision to life required a combination of expertise, focus and boldness with genuine passion. His chosen field ranged from early 19th-century art to the present day, and every effort was made to assemble a team of experts of the highest calibre.

Grisebach charted its own course when it came to auction terms and conditions, offering guarantees that far exceeded the standard liability in the art trade at the time. Grisebach warrants the provenance, technique and signature of the artworks it auctions, as far as can be established according to current research findings – a “revolutionary” approach, as the Handelsblatt newspaper noted in 1986.