The Galerie Max Hetzler was founded in Stuttgart in 1974. In 1981, the gallery presented the first exhibitions of
Martin Kippenberger and
Albert Oehlen. In 1983 the gallery moved to Cologne, the centre of the contemporary art scene in Germany at the time, and pursued a programme with some of the most significant German and American artists from the 80's. The space was located in a refurbished building at 1330 4th Street in Santa Monica. Max Hetzler moved to Berlin in 1993, inaugurating a space in Charlottenburg in 1994. The following year, a second space opened on Zimmerstraße, next to
Checkpoint Charlie. This soon became the main gallery, where exhibitions by artists from different generations took place. In the late 1990s, Max Hetzler joined forces with
Jeffrey Deitch and
Anthony d'Offay to invest heavily in the costly fabrication of
Jeff Koons's
Celebration series at Southern California-based
Carlson & Company (including his
Balloon Dog and
Moon series), and later, at Arnold, a
Frankfurt-based company. The dealers funded the project in part by selling works to collectors before they were fabricated. In 2006, Galerie Max Hetzler opened a space in a former light bulb factory, Osram-Höfe in Wedding, which became the main gallery in 2009. The 1,600 sqm of this industrial space hosted solo shows of
Mona Hatoum,
Marepe,
Beatriz Milhazes,
Ernesto Neto,
Frank Nitsche,
Michael Raedecker,
Bridget Riley, Rebecca Warren, Toby Ziegler and others, as well as group shows. In 2013 the gallery celebrated its 40 years anniversary with the group show "Remember Everything" including all currently represented artists such as
Glenn Brown,
André Butzer,
Rineke Dijkstra,
Günther Förg,
Mona Hatoum,
Jeff Koons, Vera Lutter, Marepe,
Beatriz Milhazes, Ernesto Neto, Frank Nitsche, Albert Oehlen, Yves Oppenheim, Richard Phillips, Michael Raedecker, Bridget Riley,
Thomas Struth,
Rebecca Warren,
Christopher Wool and Toby Ziegler. That year, Max Hetzler's son, Max Edouard, and Sarah Horner took over the gallery's management. In recent years, Galerie Max Hetzler expanded its remit, taking on more contemporary artists, including shows of
Richard Prince,
Adam Pendleton,
Edmund de Waal,
Ida Ekblad and
Loris Gréaud. In November 2021, Galerie Max Hetzler inaugurated its latest space at Potsdamer Straße 77-87 with a solo exhibition by
André Butzer entitled
Rohe Milch. ==Artists==