Cover Hauser & Wirth Somerset General Gallery and Garden (Photo: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth)
Hauser & Wirth Somerset General Gallery and Garden (Photo: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth)
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Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth has experienced immense success over the past three decades—not only through its geographical expansion from Zurich to the world but also thanks to its forward-thinking approach to the art business.
When Iwan and Manuela Wirth founded Hauser & Wirth with Ursula Hauser in Zurich in 1992, the contemporary art world was a different universe. Galleries were largely confined to a single city or region, and their remit was narrower: exhibition, representation and sales. More than three decades later, Hauser & Wirth has transformed from a modest Swiss gallery into a global cultural enterprise, with 20 locations across Europe, Asia and the US. Its distinctive model fuses art with food, hospitality, publishing and education, creating places where communities gather, learn and live with art.
This international expansion has been shaped both by vision and necessity. As the gallery’s senior director and partner Fiona Römer explains to Tatler, the gallery always considered itself “artist-minded”, building longterm legacies rather than chasing fashion or quick transactions. “When I start working with an artist, my first question is often: ‘What is your biggest dream?’” she says. “From there, I craft strategies to make it possible; sometimes these take decades. It’s my role to create the right context for artists to flourish and challenge them when needed.”
Above Fiona Römer, the senior director and partner of Hauser & Wirth (Photo: courtesy of David Atlan)
Fiona Römer, the senior director and partner of Hauser & Wirth (Photo: courtesy of David Atlan)
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That ethos isn’t only limited to how exhibitions are curated—the experience of art today demands broader platforms, so the gallery rethought how audiences encounter it. In 2014, the gallery team created Hauser & Wirth Somerset. Set amid a former farmstead in Bruton, in England’s southwest, the site combines exhibition spaces with gardens designed by Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, a farm-to-table restaurant, an education centre and a bookshop. By embedding contemporary art in the rhythms of local life, it redefined the gallery experience.
Later projects in Menorca in Spain and Los Angeles followed a similar template, reviving historic buildings and revitalising neighbourhoods by hosting site-specific exhibitions, restaurants and community programmes.
Römer says, “We have always challenged ourselves to question the systems in which we work. The art centres in Menorca and Somerset redefined the gallery experience by connecting art with community and place.” She believes this model amplifies the cultural and economic value of the art industry, as “a major exhibition, a biennale, a gallery location can transform a neighbourhood, boost a region’s economy or even create bridges between nations, a type of cultural diplomacy—a diplomacy I see myself playing a role in.”
Above Installation view of artist Ed Clark in the Zurich gallery (Photo: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth)
Installation view of artist Ed Clark in the Zurich gallery (Photo: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth)
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Her other positions as a founding patron of Hong Kong’s M+ and a global ambassador of Los Angeles County Museum of Art further add to her vision for the identity of the gallery: “Galleries mostly tend to operate in a more intimate, private and entrepreneurial sphere, while museums carry a civic and generational responsibility to elevate and preserve culture. Within this ecosystem, Hauser & Wirth holds its own unique place. It is not an institution—it closely partners with the many artists it represents while believing in the transformative power of art and has a goal of reaching out to wide audiences.”
Publishing has also become an integral part of the business. Hauser & Wirth Publishers produces catalogues with scholarly analyses, monographs and accessible titles, reflecting the founders’ belief that a gallery should contribute new knowledge and give audiences multiple entry points into art. Educational activities, artist residencies and talks further expand this mission, positioning Hauser & Wirth at the crossroads of commerce and cultural diplomacy. “We want to give access to art for [a wide range of] audiences and, in doing so, build communities where we are active in showing the work of our artists,” says Römer.
Above Hauser & Wirth Somerset in Bruton (Photo: courtesy of Jason Ingram)
Hauser & Wirth Somerset in Bruton (Photo: courtesy of Jason Ingram)
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The gallery has also invested in F&B as a form of social infrastructure. Its restaurants, Roth Bar & Grill in Somerset and Cantina in Menorca, are not viewed as side-lines but central to the ethos of Hauser & Wirth hospitality. They turn gallery visits into day-long experiences, where conversations about art unfold over meals. Media, too, has become an important part of what the gallery does: podcasts, digital publications and robust online viewing rooms open dialogue with global audiences who might never set foot in its brick-and-mortar sites.
Through this diversification, Hauser & Wirth has maintained a careful balance: it is neither a museum nor a purely commercial enterprise, but something in between, deeply engaged with artists and communities. With its forward-thinking and constantly evolving vision for art, the team demonstrates that the future of the gallery lies not just in white walls but in a lived, holistic ecosystem of art, food, publishing and connection.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
