What gets an art gallery into the exclusive group of the best in the world? This question may not have the simplest of answers but there are some points in which we can all agree. Unlike art museums, art galleries serve a commercial purpose and one of the main goals is the sale of the exhibited art pieces. Nowadays, the best art galleries worldwide are the ones that combine the courage to bet on artists that go on to secure places amongst the best in their business, that continue to promote themselves in art fairs, and that smartly expanded to other important cultural locations around the world. Welcome to CovetED’s choice for the 10 best art galleries in 2017.

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– Gagosian –

Larry Gagosian opened his first gallery in Los Angeles in 1980, specializing in modern and contemporary art. In thirty years, Gagosian has evolved into a global network with sixteen exhibition spaces in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong. Its vibrant contemporary program features the work of leading international artists including Georg Baselitz, Ellen Gallagher, Andreas Gursky, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Anselm Kiefer, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Taryn Simon, Rachel Whiteread, and many others. Additionally, unparalleled historical exhibitions are prepared and presented on the work of legendary artists such as Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, John Chamberlain, Willem de Kooning, Lucio Fontana, Helen Frankenthaler, Alberto Giacometti, Roy Lichtenstein, Piero Manzoni, Claude Monet, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, David Smith, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and others. A series of groundbreaking Picasso surveys curated by John Richardson has been attended by hundreds of thousands of visitors in New York and London.

– Pace Gallery –

Pace Gallery was founded by Arne Glimcher in 1960. For the last 50 years, it has maintained a relevance in the art world, participated in the most prestigious art fairs and produced first-class catalogues and exhibitions, thus fulfilling the requirements to enter the world’s best art galleries list. PG artist list includes names like Chuck Close, Donald Judd, Maya Lin, Yoshitomo Nara and James Turrell. In addition to representing some of the most important modern and contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, the gallery has developed spaces dedicated to photography and tech-focused art. It is nowadays present in New York, London, Beijing, Menlo Park, Hong Kong, Paris, Palo Alto and Seoul.

– Hauser & Wirth –

Hauser & Wirth is an international gallery devoted to contemporary and modern art, founded in Switzerland by Iwan and Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser in 1992. The gallery represents over 60 established and emerging artists, including Mark Bradford, Christoph Büchel, Roni Horn, Paul McCarthy and Pipilotti Rist, and is responsible for artist estates and foundations including The Louise Bourgeois Studio, The Estate of Philip Guston, The Eva Hesse Estate, Allan Kaprow Estate, Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, The Estate of Jason Rhoades, Dieter Roth Estate and The Estate of David Smith. Hauser & Wirth is now a global enterprise, with spaces in Zurich, London, New York, Somerset, and Los Angeles, with plans to open a gallery space in Hong Kong in the next year.

– Galerie Perrotin –

Founded by Emmanuel Perrotin in 1990, Galerie Perrotin is a contemporary art gallery amongst the best art galleries in 2017. In France, its headquarters, the gallery currently occupies two floors in Paris’ Marais district. Emmanuel has also opened new showrooms in New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. With a visionary excellence, Galerie Perrotin began representing two of its most well-known artists, Maurizio Cattelan and Takashi Murakami, a decade before both artists achieved commercial success. Perrotin also represented many French artists like Sophie Calle, Tatiana Trouve, Xavier Veilhan, Jean-Michel Othoniel and Bernard Frize, and it was one of the first to tap into the Asian markets, now counting with Aya Takano, Mr. and Bharti Kher among its artists.

– Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac –

Since opening in 1983, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has specialised in international contemporary art, representing around 60 artists and a number of renowned estates. With exhibitions held in their Salzburg, Paris Marais, Pantin and London spaces, the gallery supports and showcases the careers of some of the most influential artists today. The gallery represents its artists at all major art fairs worldwide. Active in both the primary and secondary markets, the gallery’s role extends to curatorial work, where it acts as a consultant to major museums and public institutions as well as an advisor to private and corporate collections.

– Marian Goodman Gallery –

In 1965, Marian Goodman founded Multiples, which published prints and books by American artists such as John Baldessari, Dan Graham, and Andy Warhol. Her homonym gallery was opened in 1977, and her exhibitions in New York and Paris continue to open artistic communication between the European and American art worlds, making it one of the best art galleries for this year. The gallery represents a long list of leading foreign artists, including: William Kentridge, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Struth, Thomas Schütte, Lothar Baumgarten, Tony Cragg and Richard Deacon, Steve McQueen and Tacita Dean, Christian Boltanski and Annette Messager, Chantal Ackerman, Niele Toroni, Pierre Huyghe, Gabriel Orozco, Maurizio Cattelan, Giuseppe Penone and Giovanni Anselmo, Jeff Wall, James Coleman, Rineke Dijkstra, Danh Vo, Julie Mehretu, William Kentridge, Dan Graham, Lawrence Weiner and John Baldessari.

– Sprüth Magers –

Sprüth Magers has expanded from its roots in the Rhineland to become one of the best art galleries dedicated to exhibiting the very best in groundbreaking modern and contemporary art. With galleries located in Berlin Mitte, London’s Mayfair and the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles – as well as an office in Cologne and an outpost in Hong Kong –, Sprüth Magers retains close ties with the studios and communities of the German and American artists who form the core of its roster. Sprüth Magers now works with over 60 artists and estates. While continuing to work with mid-career artists such as Thomas Demand and Sterling Ruby, the gallery regularly broadens its program with up-and-coming younger artists such as Cyprien Gaillard, David Ostrowski, Michail Pirgelis, Pamela Rosenkranz, Analia Saban, Alexandre Singh, Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch and Kaari Upson.

– Blum & Poe –

Founded in September 1994 by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe, in Santa Monica, California, Blum & Poe is one of the best art galleries, with a particular appraisal for contemporary art. In 2003, Blum & Poe relocated to a spot on the edge of Culver City, an area of industrial warehouses. Several other galleries subsequently opened on the same stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, resulting in the formation of the Culver City Art District. Nowadays, it has locations in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo, and represents several influential artists such as Kishio Suga, Takashi Murakami, Lee Ufan, Julian Schnabel or Sam Durant.

– Lisson Gallery –

Lisson Gallery is one of the most influential and longest-running international contemporary art galleries in the world. Since being founded in 1967 by Nicholas Logsdail, it has championed the careers of artists who have transformed the way art was made and presented, engraving its name in the best art galleries list. These include many important minimal and conceptual artists, such as Sol LeWitt and Richard Long, as well as a whole generation of significant British sculptors from Anish Kapoor and Richard Deacon to Shirazeh Houshiary and Tony Cragg. It continues to support the future of its artists, the legacy of historical figures, the evolving practice of established artists and the wide-ranging potential of emerging and new talents. It is now established in London, New York and Milan.

– David Zwirner Gallery –

Founded in 1993 in New York City, David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. Currently, it has two gallery spaces in New York City and one in London, with plans to open a new location in Hong Kong. In fact, all of the best art galleries included in this list have managed to continuously expanded themselves to different parts of the globe. The gallery has exhibited works by artists such as Marlene Dumas, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Neo Rauch, Jason Rhoades, Luc Tuymans, Doug Wheeler, William Eggleston, and minimalist works by Larry Bell, John McCracken, Fred Sandback and James Turrell.

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Source: Gagosian, Pace Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Perrotin, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Marian Goodman Gallery, Sprüth Magers, Blum & Poe, Lisson Gallery, David Zwirner Gallery, Complex