Manuela Alexejew-Brandl looks back with pride on one of her major recent projects. In Berlin-Dahlem, she has transformed an ageing house with vision, subtlety and remarkable stamina. Today, she is gradually filling it with contemporary art. For the light-filled living room in the extension –that is even bathed in winter sun – Gerson Fehrenbach acquired a bronze from Grisebach. The intertwined double figure, she explains, also symbolises her bond with her husband Carlos: “Our dream is for the bronze to remain in this place forever, for generations to come.”

Patrick Gehlen is fascinated by references and context. The initial emotional spark, which is then rationalised through reference and context, plays a key role in his decision to acquire a work, he explains. In 2017, for instance, something clicked when a painting by Bauhaus artist and photographer Xanti Schawinsky came up for sale at Grisebach: “Schawinsky was incredibly versatile, constantly reinventing himself across a wide variety of styles, media and formats. For me, this almost photorealistic painting from his late period has a spherical quality that transcends the tension between abstraction and figuration in his work, not to mention the aesthetics of this wonderfully crumpled sheet of paper.”

“The picture is small, but it stays with you,” said Filip Dames. “It is no coincidence that it bears the title Sendero luminosos” – the luminous path.” The Berlin entrepreneur’s collection began many years ago with another work by A. R. Penck, and he has since added further works by the artist. The couple acquired the compact painting at the most recent Contemporary Art auction. “Small formats often have a more radical impact – concentrated, unprotected, immediate,” said Luisa Dames, founder of the shoe brand Aeyde. Penck’s work is closely intertwined with his biography:  in 1980, he was expatriated from the GDR and emigrated to West Germany.