Auctions in Vienna
The Dorotheum is one of the world's leading auction houses and the biggest in Central Europe. It was established in 1707 by Emperor Joseph I. About 700 auctions in 40 specialisms are held each year. The collections range from jewelry to paintings, from furniture to porcelain. The highlight of the year are four large international auction weeks with premium auctions in the main art and antiquities specialisms. The Dorotheum jeweler and the Dorotheum gallery also offer an extensive range of items at fixed prices. The Dorotheum auctions regularly offer designs from the 1930s to the 1950s (e.g. Roland Rainer and Carl Auböck) as well as classics of Viennese Modernism (e.g. Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann). The auction house resides in the Palais Dorotheum, a magnificent building of the neo-Baroque period, completed in 1901.
Since 2009, photo auctions have been held twice a year (in spring and autumn) at WestLicht Photo Auction and now play a central role in the German-speaking auction market. Auction items include early prints from the 19th century as well as icons of the 20th century and contemporary photography. Major personalities in front of and behind the camera and key moments of contemporary history characterize the offering. With their broad-based range of lots, the photo auctions show that no other medium has left its mark on our view of the world in the last 150 years as much as photography.
