Dealers Michael Werner and Gordon VeneKlasen are ending their 35-year joint business venture, with Werner continuing to run Galerie Michael Werner in Berlin and VeneKlasen launching his own international gallery, taking over the New York, London, and Los Angeles locations. Meanwhile, Russian billionaire couple Andrey and Yelizaveta Molchanov are opening Zilart, a new private museum in Moscow on December 2, showcasing their collection of 10,000 works despite political repression and sanctions threatening other private museums. The article also reports on the Leiden Collection exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, the Russian Ministry of Justice moving to classify Pussy Riot as an extremist organization during Nadya Tolokonnikova's performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the opening of the 24th Biennale de Arte Paiz.
This matters because the Werner-VeneKlasen split reshapes a major gallery network that has represented significant artists for decades, signaling a shift in the global art dealership landscape. Zilart's opening in Moscow tests the viability of private museums under increasing state pressure and sanctions, raising questions about cultural autonomy and political ties in Russia. The Pussy Riot classification highlights ongoing government censorship and the risks artists face when engaging in political protest, while the Leiden Collection display underscores the continued prominence of Old Master works in American museums.