Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is a prominent group of galleries specializing in international contemporary art. Founded by the Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac, the enterprise has grown from its Austrian origins into a global network with spaces in Salzburg, Paris Marais, Paris Pantin, London, Seoul, and Milan. Recognized as one of the 100 most significant entities in the global art world by ArtReview magazine, the gallery operates actively in both the primary and secondary art markets, advising museums, public institutions, and corporate and private collections. It also maintains its own publishing house, producing books and catalogs featuring contributions by notable art historians, curators, and writers.

The gallery was established in 1981 in Lienz, Austria, under the name Galerie Thaddaus J. Ropac/Edition Rotha, later operating as Thaddaus J. Ropac/Forum for Avant-garde Art until early 1985. A second venue opened in Salzburg in 1983 at Kaigasse 40, operating concurrently with the Lienz space. The Salzburg gallery relocated to the Villa Kast at Mirabellplatz 2 in 1989. International expansion began with a Paris location in the Le Marais quarter in 1990, inaugurated with a show featuring Jeff Koons and Elaine Sturtevant. A large industrial space in Pantin, northeastern Paris, opened in October 2012. The gallery expanded to London in spring 2017, followed by Seoul in October 2021, with a second Seoul space added in 2023, and a Milan branch in September 2025.

The gallery represents approximately sixty living artists and renowned estates, organizing an average of forty solo and group exhibitions annually across its venues. Its scope encompasses both the primary market of direct artist sales and the secondary market of private and auction resales. Beyond commercial dealing, the gallery fulfills a curatorial role by advising on collection acquisitions for museums and other institutions. Since 2005, the gallery has collaborated with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, inviting figures such as Hedi Slimane, Robert Wilson, Sofia Coppola, and Isabelle Huppert to curate selections from the foundation's images for gallery exhibitions. The gallery also participates in major international fairs including Art Basel, the Armory Show, Frieze London, and FIAC.

The gallery manages the estates of several highly influential artists, including Joseph Beuys and Donald Judd, both represented since 2018, and Robert Rauschenberg, represented since 2015. Additional estates handled by the gallery include Rosemarie Castoro, represented since 2019, James Rosenquist, represented since 2017, as well as Robert Mapplethorpe, Sturtevant, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Harun Farocki. The roster of living artists represented features figures such as Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Gilbert and George, Tony Cragg, Alex Katz, Robert Longo, Antony Gormley, Erwin Wurm, Yan Pei-Ming, and Tom Sachs.

The gallery occupies architecturally significant spaces tailored to its exhibition needs. In Salzburg, the main space is the Villa Kast, a 19th-century townhouse in the old city at Mirabellplatz 2, supplemented since March 2010 by the Salzburg Halle, a more than 2,500 square meter industrial building used during the Salzburg Festival season. The Paris Marais space spans four floors with 1,000 square meters of exhibition area and includes a permanent drawing collection. The Pantin space, situated in a former early 20th-century boiler factory near the Philharmonie de Paris, offers approximately 5,000 square meters suitable for monumental artworks. The London branch in Ely House, a former 1772 residence of the Bishop of Ely in Mayfair, provides 1,500 square meters across five floors with four individual exhibition rooms, following a redesign by architect Annabelle Selldorf. The Seoul space is located in the award-winning Fort Hill Building designed by SAI Architects in the Hannam-dong district, while the Milan venue occupies two rooms totaling 280 square meters inside the 18th-century neoclassical Palazzo Belgioioso, with access to the adjacent piazza for exhibitions.

The gallery maintains its headquarters in Salzburg, Austria, while operating prominent international branches in Paris, London, Seoul, and Milan. The spaces are accessible to the public during regular gallery hours, with the Salzburg Halle specifically opening during the Salzburg Festival season. The Pantin location's proximity to the Philharmonie de Paris facilitates cooperative programming with neighboring cultural institutions. As of 2020, the gallery operates with a team of 100 employees, supporting its extensive exhibition schedule, art fair participation, and curatorial advisory services for public and private collections worldwide.