Art Düsseldorf 2019: A Fair Rooted in Collecting Tradition

Art Düsseldorf, now in its third edition, was founded by Walter Gehlen to compete with rival Cologne. The fair runs four days in mid-November, featuring no weak galleries and a curated RSVP sector for emerging spaces. Notable participants include three Italian galleries (Thomas Brambilla, Montrasio, Rita Urso) and public institutions like K20, K21, and Kunstpalast. The city's unique art ecosystem stems from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, founded in the 18th century by collector and dealer Lambert Krahe, who donated his collection of Baroque and Renaissance drawings to the academy. This tradition of private collecting continues with foundations such as the Philara Collection (Gil Bronner, focused on local artists) and the Julia Stoschek Collection (specializing in time-based art, 800 works by 200 artists, with a 40% female artist ratio). The Langen Foundation in Neuss, designed by Tadao Ando, currently hosts a show of Korean artists Park Seo-Bo and Ming-Jung Kim. The Stiftung Insel Hombroich park features pavilions by Erwin Heerich, Per Kirkeby, Álvaro Siza, and Tadao Ando, housing works by Matisse, Fautrier, Klein, Schwitters, Rosso, Giacometti, and Brâncuși. Thomas Schütte's foundation, built in 2016, preserves his sculpture. The city's public collections include expressionist and postwar American art at Kunstsammlung K20.