BERLIN.- The Ernst von Siemens Award for Art and Trade worth 100,000 euros was presented for the first time on 13 March 2026 at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht. The prize honours the Städel Museum in Frankfurt and the art dealer Wolfgang Wittrock for exemplary collaboration in a spirit of trust resulting in the purchase of Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass (1919). It was an occasion to recall other significant acquisitions brokered by Wolfgang Wittrock, such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Potsdamer Platz (1914, Berliner Nationalgalerie) and Pablo Picasso’s Femme au violon (1910, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich).

The new award understands and acknowledges the art trade as an important partner for museums and public collections. It recognizes outstanding cooperation between the museums and the art trade in which scholarly research or patronage on the part of art dealers results in the identification, purchase or recovery of major works for museum collections. It reflects the observation that the art trade often as well supplies the art history research that can no longer be undertaken by museums due to a lack of time, staff or money.

This award is designed to encourage the art trade to embrace a spirit of art patronage in dealings with museums by generously sharing knowledge and information, facilitating time-consuming investigations into the condition or authenticity of works, supporting enhanced provenance research and responding constructively to the complex challenge of accessing funds.

Prior to the purchase of Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass (1919), the painting was on loan to the Städel Museum. The Städel’s director Philipp Demandt approached Hermann Lange’s heirs at an early stage to express an interest in acquiring the work. In the light of his enthusiasm and judicious liaison by Wolfgang Wittrock, and following intense discussions, the owners had the generosity and good grace to smooth the path for exploratory talks with institutional and private benefactors. In 2020 Self- Portrait with Champagne Glass was purchased for the Städel Museum with the support of the Minister of Culture, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Friends of the Städel Museum, the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States and five private donors.

Art dealer Wolfgang Wittrock (* 1947 in Cuxhaven) began his career in Dusseldorf, where he founded his gallery in 1974. He has published many exhibition catalogues and catalogues raisonnés, is an amiable networker and has provided patronage for
museums and collections over the course of several decades. He collaborates and
mediates in a spirit of trust and with a profound understanding of the options available to public institutions on the one hand and the interests of vendors on the other.

In 2027 the two award-winners will invest their prize money in a planned research and exhibition project at the Städel in Frankfurt.

Professor Dirk Syndram, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ernst von
Siemens Kunststiftung: “Wolfgang Wittrock is a perfect choice to receive the first Ernst von Siemens Award for Art and Trade. He personifies cooperative partnership between collections and dealers. The Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung has frequent experience of his patient efforts to broker a purchase and of his role as emissary in the auction houses.”

Dr Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt: “Close ties with collectors and dealers run deep in the ethos of the Städel Museum, as this institution
itself has its roots in a private collection built more than 200 years ago by our founder
Johann Friedrich Städel, who worked shoulder to shoulder with the European art trade. Even so, the acquisition of the painting Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass by Max Beckmann was a particularly glorious moment in the history of our museum. Painted in Frankfurt in 1919, this work belongs to that rare group of first-class self-portraits by Beckmann with an international market. Without the trustful collaboration fostered over many years between Wolfgang Wittrock, the Städel Museum and the owners of the work, it would not have been possible to secure this 20th-century icon for the German public. Thanks to our dedicated sponsors, the acquisition has been a masterful shared achievement – and remains unforgotten.”

Wolfgang Wittrock, art dealer: “The right painting in the right place – that has been my guiding principle throughout my life as an art dealer and it came to splendid
fruition with the purchase of Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait with Champagne Glass for the Städel in Frankfurt. For decades I have enjoyed trustful collaboration with the family of the visionary collector Hermann Lange, who bought the painting in 1928, and I am deeply grateful for that. Equally close-knit has been my collaboration with the Städel Museum, which for so long has set an example of enterprise and farsightedness thanks to the rich support it enjoys in the commitment of the local community and the friends of the museum, of companies and foundations. For me, it was a pleasure and an honour to assist the Städel in its desire to purchase the work. The Städel has demonstrated yet again that with will and determination, founded on partnership between the museum, the art trade and benefactors, much can be achieved that initially seemed impossible. My warm thanks go to the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung – first for their decisive, vigorous backing for the project and now for this magnanimous award and the recognition for our work that it implies.”