A summer of mega-gallery real estate re-evaluation continues. Earlier this month Gagosian exited 28–29 Burlington Arcade, a two-storey location in the historic central London shopping mall, which it began programming in October 2023. A spokesperson for the gallery confirmed the move.
More reshuffling is on the docket: Gagosian plans to depart its Basel location, at Rheinsprung 1, in the months ahead. The spokesperson added that the gallery is currently “exploring other real estate opportunities” in the Swiss city.
The Burlington Arcade and Basel galleries have had similar trajectories within Gagosian's global network. Both began as pop-up spaces born out of opportunistic leases, before transitioning into year-round exhibition sites.
Burlington Arcade housed a ground-floor iteration of the Gagosian Shop—the gallery’s retail storefront for the sale of books, editions, artist-licensed merchandise and other (relatively) affordably priced objects—with a modest exhibition space on the floor above it. A total of 16 shows were staged, according to the gallery's website; its final show, which closed on 18 July, presented works related to site-specific projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Gagosian agreed to vacate 28-29 Burlington Arcade so that the property’s owner could bring in a long-term commercial tenant. Incidentally, the Burlington Arcade complex recently added Fabergé, the world’s leading purveyor of jewelled eggs, to its directory, with an opening date of “winter 2026” but no listed street address. An enquiry to Fabergé seeking confirmation of its new location was not returned by publication time.
Gagosian's Basel location ran from 2019-2026
© David Owens
Gagosian opened its Basel gallery with a group show on abstraction in 2019, in sync with Art Basel’s flagship fair. The most recent exhibition listed on its website was another multi-artist affair, curated to complement Gagosian’s stand at Art Basel this summer. The gallery has programmed 17 shows at Rheinsprung 1 to date.
Gagosian’s moves are the latest physical modifications made by mega-galleries over the past two months. After announcing in early June that it would lay off around 50 staff and remove around 50 artists and estates from its roster, Pace Gallery later verified that it is searching for a smaller gallery space in London; its longtime home in the city, spanning 8,600 sq. ft at 5 Hanover Square, was already back on the rental market by 10 June, a Pace spokesperson told the Financial Times.
Artnet News also reported last week that David Zwirner gallery is exiting 34 East 69th Street, the Manhattan townhouse location that it has been programming since 2017. A spokesperson for David Zwirner told the publication that it was “always our plan to leave” the neighbourhood after the company’s property “overhaul” in Chelsea was completed last year.
Gagosian plans to continue operating its two major London spaces, located at 20 Grosvenor Hill and 17-19 Davies Street in Mayfair. In September the Grosvenor Hill venue will open This Is Still Not a Pipe: The Afterlife of Magritte, a major exhibition combining around 70 works by the sought-after Surrealist Rene Magritte with selections by contemporary artists.
