<div><p>For the owner of the Parisian publishing house Cahiers d’Art, ‘the art world is like an inverted pyramid that grows infinitely’</p></div><p><strong></strong></p>

As told to Ingrid Luquet-Gad

Why I collect: Staffan Ahrenberg

<p>‘I was lucky enough to grow up in a house full of art thanks to my father Theodor, who was of Swedish origin and a passionate collector. He was interested in the art of his time – the 1950s through the 1970s. I am the only one of the next generation to have been seized by the same passion for art. I began collecting when I was 18 or 19 years old. For the first three years, I was focusing on Geometric Abstraction. That period was marked by worldwide recognition of the Parisian gallery&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1530/Galerie-Denise-Ren%C3%A9">Denise René</a> and the artists she supported [grouped around abstract art in general, with a predilection for Kinetic art in particular, Ed.]. I was first interested in and bought artists like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/23072/Olle-Baertling">Olle Bærtling</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/10826/Henryk-Sta%C5%BCewski">Henryk Stacewsky</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8988/Max-Bill">Max Bill</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/23258/G%C3%BCnter-Fruhtrunk">Günter Fruhtrunk</a>.</p>

<p>‘Today, my collection does not have a strict orientation, although I remain interested in works with a conceptual approach. Understood broadly, this vein might lead me to artists as diverse as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6704/Rodney-Graham">Rodney Graham</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6932/Wolfgang-Tillmans">Wolfgang Tillmans</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7516/Richard-Serra">Richard Serra</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7304/Cildo-Meireles">Cildo Meireles</a>, or <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8657/H%C3%A9lio-Oiticica">Hélio Oiticica</a>, to name a few whose work I appreciate enormously.</p><p>‘I am based between Switzerland and France, but I travel half the year. My map of contemporary art covers New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Berlin, São Paolo, and Seoul. When it comes to discovering young artists, Art Basel is the first place I look. In fact, I happened to be present at the very first edition of the fair in Basel in 1970, accompanying my father when I was still quite young. I have attended the fair every year since. Today, when I travel, I always take the time to visit the different locations of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1123/Gagosian">Gagosian</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1141/Gladstone-Gallery">Gladstone</a><a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1141/Gladstone-Gallery">&nbsp;Gallery</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1441/Skarstedt">Skarstedt</a>;&nbsp;<a href="http://neugerriemschneider">neugerriemschneider</a> in Berlin; <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1182/kurimanzutto">kurimanzutto</a> in Mexico;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1235/Galleria-Franco-Noero">Galleria Franco Noero</a> in Turin, Italy;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1126/Galeria-Luisa-Strina">Galeria Luisa Strina</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1214/Mendes-Wood-DM">Mendes Wood DM</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1068/Gomide-Co">Gomide &amp; Co</a> in São Paolo; and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/23551/Larkin-Erdmann-Gallery">Larkin Erdmann Gallery</a> in Zurich.</p>

<p>‘The Cahiers d’Art adventure began with a stroke of luck. I discovered by chance that this legendary review, publishing house, and gallery was still in existence; and although it had stopped publishing, it had retained its original location in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. I acquired it in 2010, with the idea of relaunching it. To do so, I formed an editorial board around me, composed of Sam Keller, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Isabela Mora. In October 2012, we published a first new issue dedicated to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7511/Ellsworth-Kelly">Ellsworth Kelly</a>. The choice was obvious to us: if Christian Zervos, the historical founder of Cahiers d’Art, had turned his sights toward America – which was not the case – he would certainly have been interested in Kelly.</p>

<p>‘I acquired Cahiers d’Art instinctively, because it allowed me to be involved in art professionally without becoming an art dealer. With its extraordinary past and being embedded in a unique ecosystem, this publishing house now allows me to work on producing books, exhibitions, limited editions, and catalogues raisonnés. In 2014, I republished the 33 volumes of the Picasso Catalogue, known as ‘The Zervos’, after translating it into English.&nbsp;The first issue of the historical review dates back to 1926, and the last was published in 1960. Kelly was actually living in Paris in those years, from 1948 to 1954, and we even know that he visited Cahiers d’Art. Of course, it was a free interpretation of the past on our part, but Kelly, who was 89 years old at the time, immediately accepted our proposal. We later devoted issues to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6732/Alexander-Calder">Alexander Calder</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7375/Rosemarie-Trockel">Rosemarie Trockel</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8466/Hiroshi-Sugimoto">Hiroshi Sugimoto</a>,&nbsp;<span style="background-color: initial;"><a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/9674/Christo">Christo</a>, and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/28259/Arthur-Jafa">Arthur Jafa</a>. Our guiding principle is to work with current artists from around the world, but also with those who were Zervos’s contemporaries.</p><p>‘My collection and Cahiers d’Art are two different worlds that I don’t mix directly. There is, however, a constant dialogue between certain artists that I have discovered by way of one or the other. For example, I collected Jafa before we invited him to curate an issue of the review in 2020. There is also the young Brazilian artist Maxwell Alexandre, who I bought four or five years ago, and with whom we are now preparing a project for the summer of 2023. I’m also thinking of other young artists I collected early on, like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8708/Cyprien-Gaillard">Cyprien Gaillard</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7964/Adri%C3%A1n-Villar-Rojas">Adrián Villar Rojas</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8315/Lucas-Arruda">Lucas Arruda</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>‘The art world is like an inverted pyramid that grows infinitely. Its sides are made of two components: the new geographies that have opened up with globalization, and the arrival of a new generation of collectors and art lovers who carry an ever-increasing weight in the market. As for my dream of an ultimate artwork, it would be <em>Black Square</em> [1915] by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/15425/Kasimir-Malevich">Kasimir Malevitch</a>!’</p><hr /><p>Ingrid Luquet-Gad is an art critic and PhD candidate based in Paris. She is the arts editor of <em>Les Inrockuptibles</em>, a contributing editor at <em>Spike Art Magazine</em>, and a journalist for <em>Flash Art</em>.</p><p>English translation: Jacob Bromberg.</p><p>Published on January 19, 2023.</p><p>Captions for full-bleed images, from top to bottom:&nbsp;1. View of the Cahiers d'Art Gallery in Paris during the&nbsp;‘Christo: Show Cases, Show Windows &amp; Store Fronts 1963-1966’ exhibition, September 2020. Photograph by&nbsp;Claire Dorn. Courtesy of CVJ Corporation, on behalf of the Estate of Christo V. Javacheff &amp; Cahiers d’Art, Paris. 2. Cildo Meireles, <em style="background-color: initial;">Inserções em circuitos ideológicos: Projeto Coca-Cola</em>, 1970.&nbsp;Courtesy of Ahrenberg Collection, Switzerland.</p>

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For the owner of the Parisian publishing house Cahiers d’Art, ‘the art world is like an inverted pyramid that grows infinitely’

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