This may not be Germany’s finest hour, as the country wrestles with mounting economic and political challenges—from instability and rising polarization to anemic GDP growth (just 0.7 percent for 2025, according to European Commission forecasts) and structural weaknesses like high energy costs, underinvestment and an overreliance on exports. Yet amid these struggles, Germany’s art scene remains remarkably resilient. Just this month, German artists are asserting their presence in New York with major moments across disciplines. Anne Imhof is staging a full-scale takeover with the epic contemporary opera “DOOM: House of Hope,” while a major new exhibition by photographer Andreas Gursky highlights the precision and scale that cemented his place in the international art market. Gursky’s meticulous, large-format images have commanded multimillion-dollar records at auction—his 1999 work Rhein II remains the most expensive photograph ever sold, fetching $4.3 million at Christie’s in 2011. Meanwhile, German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk are marking the 50th anniversary of their fourth studio album, Autobahn, and their first U.S. tour in 1975 with a thirty-city tour, including two concerts in New York on March 13 and 14.
Observer spoke with Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, founders of Sprüth Magers, one of the few German galleries to establish a truly global presence while championing both international icons and some of Germany’s most influential contemporary artists. The gallery was founded in Cologne in the 1980s by Sprüth, and in 1998 she partnered with Magers. “Since the gallery opened in Cologne, we were always entrenched in the German art scene while also championing international artists right from the start,” Magers tells Observer. “Globalization, of course, plays a big part in our business, and we see our priorities in a much wider global system, but still with the attachment to Germany, our roots.”
The gallery opened in the 1980s when Germany was at the center of the international contemporary art scene. Cities like Cologne and Berlin became global cultural hubs, rivaling New York and Paris. This was the era of the “Neue Wilde” (New Wild) when German artists such as Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorff and Markus Lüpertz rose to international prominence. Their ascent had been preceded in the 1970s by the artists of Capitalist Realism, including Sigmar Polke, and Gerhard Richter, who shaped Germany’s response to Pop Art—grappling with the country’s fraught recent history while critiquing both Western consumerism and Eastern Bloc propaganda.
West Germany, in particular, became a key locus of artistic production, bolstered by strong government funding for museums and galleries that facilitated a global exchange of ideas. Institutions such as the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and Kunstmuseum Bonn played leading roles in bringing contemporary international art to Germany, while Art Cologne was among Europe’s most-watched art fairs. Artists like Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince exhibited in Germany early in their careers, benefiting from its thriving institutions and gallery network.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked another turning point, expanding Germany’s artistic influence and cementing Berlin’s status as a global hotspot for artists in the 1990s. The city’s institutions and galleries and the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art established it as a fixture on the global art map.
Today, Berlin Art Week continues to attract collectors, and major institutions like Hamburger Bahnhof and Gropius Bau present high-profile exhibitions with international artists. Still, Germany’s influence in the global art ecosystem has waned in recent years. The rising cost of living in Berlin has driven many artists and creatives out of the city, while an influx of tech and finance professionals has shifted its cultural landscape. Yet at every Venice Biennale, German artists leave an undeniable mark with provocative presentations in the National Pavilion. Anne Imhof’s 2017 pavilion, which won the Golden Lion, remains one of the most memorable in the event’s history. Imhof radically transformed the German Pavilion by installing a raised glass floor, creating a layered, unsettling and psychologically charged space. Beneath the visitors’ feet, performers enacted a dystopian vision that explored themes of surveillance, power and exclusion.
Despite shifts in the art market and Berlin’s changing identity, Monika Sprüth remains convinced that Germany will continue to produce groundbreaking artists, as demonstrated by the strong presence of German talent in New York this month. Sprüth Magers represents both Anne Imhof and Andreas Gursky, and the gallery has a long-standing relationship with Kraftwerk, the pioneering German band they credit with having invented electronic music and shaped music history. “It is very fortunate that these three New York projects, from artists of three different generations, are happening almost simultaneously,” she says. “It shows that iconic and important figures continue to emerge from this cultural background.”
Despite recent political tensions and threats of censorship, Germany continues to uphold a strong institutional system that supports the arts. “Traditionally, Germany has a strong collector and museum scene,” Sprüth explains. “These serve as the cornerstone for artists’ development and growth.” Still, through decades of experience, galleries such as Sprüth Magers, Max Hetzler and Michael Werner have played an equally vital role in shaping the German contemporary art landscape and establishing a new generation of artists who are now internationally recognized.
Over the years, Sprüth Magers has demonstrated an exceptional ability to identify artists whose work can endure. When asked what they look for in an artist as a marker of success, Monika Sprüth is clear. “In my opinion, the most important thing is the question of who can survive the next hundred years. It is not really about who the best painter is. It is far more about who catches and moves the cultural moment forward.” Sprüth is convinced that the artists with major projects in New York this month embody this principle.
Still, Sprüth Magers has had to navigate mounting pressure, competition and challenges as the art world has become more globalized. “Forty to fifty years ago, the art world was driven by artists’ visions and the market was not so dominant,” Sprüth explains. “Now there are far more collectors, which is great, and far more money—both can easily cause confusion about the artistic quality of artists.” Magers adds that when they started out, the art market—or lack thereof—meant that no one entered the field expecting large profits. “That was never the goal,” she says. “Becoming an artist at the time also didn’t mean you would find fame or wealth; you did it to be part of a dialogue.” But in today’s globalized economy, art is more often viewed as an asset in a portfolio. “However, the artists we have chosen to represent remain focused on that dialogue, and we have always worked to support their vision rather than bend it to any market pressures. Our commitment to them is long-term. We plan to support them forever.”
Sprüth Magers opened a New York outpost in 2022, but the gallery was no stranger to the U.S. market, having established a presence in Los Angeles in 2014 and representing several major American artists. “New York has always been considered the center of the U.S. art market. When we initially considered a location in the U.S., Los Angeles was more attractive since many of our artists lived and worked there, like Barbara Kruger, Sterling Ruby, John Baldessari and others,” Magers says. “We wanted to be close to them and represent them in their hometown.” It was nearly 40 years later that they decided it was time to bring their vision of art to New York. “It feels natural to show our program in New York since we are well connected to local collectors and institutions.”
On March 14, the gallery’s New York space will open a solo show by Andreas Gursky, a pioneer of contemporary photography known for his large-scale, vividly detailed compositions. “Within his work, Andreas delves into the realities of our changing planet, and he has always been interested in topics like globalization, consumerism and social phenomena,” says Sprüth. “With this new show, he presents his work in dialogue with the compositions of Old Masters like Pieter Bruegel the Elder and others to examine our collective memory, how contemporary images relate to images from the past and how we see the world today.”
Just recently, George Condo staged a two-part exhibition at Sprüth Magers’ New York location, with his latest works on paper split between their space and Hauser & Wirth’s SoHo gallery. “After Andreas Gursky will be Rosemarie Trockel, then Nancy Holt later in the year,” Magers says, previewing the gallery’s ambitious 2025 program. “Mire Lee’s show in Los Angeles in September will be a major presentation of her new work.” Meanwhile, Sprüth Magers’s London gallery is showing Joseph Kosuth through mid-March, while in Berlin, they are preparing for an exhibition of Cyprien Gaillard in May and Kara Walker in the fall.
