Daniel Blau

“After 35 years of such success, the time has arrived to permit myself some change, some personal growth, and a long-overdue return to roots.
It might be considered by some an indulgence, and if that is the case then I am announcing with glee my overindulgence, beginning now, back in the adventures where I got my start. I have left my books, my research, my photographs and publications, aside for far too long, and as thankful as I have been for the work, and everything else, that my little business of a gallery has blessed me with for over three decades, it is clear that the only way to get back to my fundamental passions is by letting the gallery go.
Here, then, comes the final bit of work for our business. In Germany, it is virtually impossible to close a gallery elegantly. Everything that remains after closing is heavily taxed, and the resulting discussions with the tax office take up too much focus and energy. We are therefore taking a different path: this March, the Dorotheum will begin to auction off our inventory of works on paper, nearly without reserve. This seems to me to be the least tedious solution.
I want to take a moment to extend the deepest thanks to the colleagues, clients, and friends that have accompanied and supported the gallery from inception up until today. However, I do not want to be misunderstood: even if the gallery itself is taking its sign down, the work is far from over. If anything, this coming year promises to be more intense than ever.
One reason for this is the new role I am taking on as CEO of our family business, a responsibility which, as those who know me well can imagine, I approach with the utmost seriousness.
The machinery of the gallery, meanwhile, will all still be here, simply operating towards a redirected purpose. This year, with my help, Cahiers d’Art will publish an entire issue devoted to Baselitz; museums and galleries in Oslo, Bergen, Paris, London, and Venice will find me returning no longer as a gallerist for others but as a representative of Georg Baselitz, lending expertise to their exhibitions and catalogues.” Daniel Blau, February 25, 2025

Daniel Blau is a German gallery. It was opened in Munich in 1990 and specializes in modern and contemporary art, particularly works on paper and photography. The gallery showed the first exhibitions in Germany with paintings by Mark Rothko, abstract works by Dubuffet and Julian Schnabel, the Polaroids of Chuck Close and Lucian Freud. The gallery regularly publishes extensive publications on the exhibitions. Daniel Blau opened his gallery on Maximiliansstraße in 1990, moved to Odeonsplatz in the Hofgartenarkaden in 1996 and back to Maximilianstraße in 2015 and is now located on Landwehrstraße.