David Schnell
Value#61
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
3/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
7/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
4/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
2/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
3/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
Auction Record
$216,000
Kollision in der Baumschule
Christie's New York, 2006
- Pricing
- Primary Market
- Contact Galerie EIGEN + ART for current pricing
- Market Segments
- Paintings Medium
- Examples from 2000s selling $50,000-150,000 range at peak
- Paintings Large Scale
- Historical high: $216,000 (2006)
- Works on Paper Prints
- Lower end of range: $200-5,000 depending on edition and technique
- Price Trajectory
- Peak in mid-2000s; significant correction post-2009; appears to have stabilized at more modest levels
- Secondary Market Context
- Peak market period: 2004-2009 during New Leipzig School hype when 'renowned international collectors hunting for the coveted paintings drove prices into the six-figure range'; Prices collapsed after 2009 financial crisis though works by well-known painters remained in demand
- Liquidity
- Market Depth
- Thin secondary market; most works held by institutions and private collectors
- Annual Volume
- Limited secondary market activity; historically averaging 5-10 lots per year based on available data
- Geographic Markets
- Primary: Germany (Leipzig, Berlin); Secondary: United States (major collector base via Rubell Family); Europe
- Collector Base
- Major Collectors
Name Location Rubell Family Collection (now Rubell Museum) Miami, USA Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig — Essl Museum Austria Kunsthalle Mannheim Germany Denver Art Museum USA MOCA Los Angeles USA Arken Museum of Contemporary Art Denmark Sammlung Burda (Frieder Burda Collection) Germany - Collector Profile
- Contemporary art collectors focused on figurative painting; institutions building post-reunification German art collections; collectors who acquired during 2000s New Leipzig School phenomenon
- Auction History
- Price Ranges
- Context
- Prices vary significantly by size and medium; includes prints, works on paper, and paintings
- Historical Overall
- $200 - $216,000 USD
- Record Price
- Date
- 2006
- Work
- Kollision in der Baumschule
- Notes
- Auction record set nearly 20 years ago
- Amount USD
- $216,000
- Auction House
- Christie's New York
- Sell Through Rate
- 100% in partial EGON database (2025 onward, 1 lot)
- Transaction Volume
- 134 artworks offered at auction historically (MutualArt data); limited liquidity in secondary market
- Recent Sales 2024 2025
- Date
- September 2025
- Work
- Klub
- Notes
- From EGON database - most recent available data point
- Price USD
- $25,800
- Auction House
- Phillips
- Market Position
- Segment
- Mid-tier New Leipzig School artist
- Comparables
- Fellow New Leipzig School artists: Matthias Weischer, Tim Eitel, Christoph Ruckhäberle, Tilo Baumgärtel; all experienced similar trajectory
- Position Notes
- Part of internationally recognized movement championed by influential dealer Gerd Harry Lybke; strong institutional validation but secondary market more modest than movement leader Neo Rauch
- Market Leader Comparison
- Neo Rauch achieved £1 million ($1.57M) record in 2014 for 'Platz (Square)' 2000, significantly higher than Schnell's peak
- Investment Outlook
- Risks
- Secondary market liquidity limited
- Auction record set in 2006; no evidence of price growth in nearly 20 years
- Market for New Leipzig School experienced significant correction post-2009 financial crisis
- Overshadowed by movement leader Neo Rauch in terms of market performance
- Limited recent auction activity at major houses
- Outlook
- Stable but not growth-oriented; suitable for collectors interested in New Leipzig School painting for aesthetic/collection-building purposes rather than aggressive appreciation
- Strengths
- Strong institutional validation with major museum exhibitions and collections
- Part of historically significant art movement (New Leipzig School)
- Long-term gallery representation by respected Galerie EIGEN + ART (since early 2000s)
- Prestigious awards including Villa Massimo Fellowship (2013)
- Consistent exhibition record over 20+ years
Institutional Presence
- Exhibitions
- Major Solo Shows
Title Year Venue Location Flyer 2023 Galerie EIGEN + ART Berlin, Germany NOVO 2022 Eduardo Secci Milan, Italy stereo 2021 Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig, Germany Solo exhibition 2014 Galerie EIGEN + ART Berlin, Germany Stunde (Hour) 2010 Kunstverein Hannover / Gemeentemuseum Hannover, Germany / The Hague, Netherlands — 2011 Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen Switzerland Hover 2007 Mönchehaus Museum für Moderne Kunst Goslar / MAP Museo de Arte de Ponce Germany / Puerto Rico Streifzüge: Paintings by David Schnell 2006 Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art London, UK - Major Group Shows
Title Year Venue Location Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection 2005 — — From Leipzig 2005 Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland, OH, USA Northern Light: Leipzig in Miami 2004 Rubell Family Collection Miami, USA MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst 2017 — Duisburg, Germany — 2005 ARARIO Korea — 2005 Kunstverein Nürnberg Germany - Exhibition Frequency
- Consistent exhibition activity 2000-present; regular solo shows every 2-3 years; continuous group exhibition presence
- Publications
- Press Coverage
Title Date Publication The New Leipzig School January 8, 2006 The New York Times Magazine Berlin's Must-See Exhibitions This Autumn September 2023 Ocula — — — - Major Catalogues
Title Year David Schnell - Stunde/Uur/Hour 2010 Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection 2005
- Museum Collections
Institution Location Notes Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig Leipzig, Germany Works in permanent collection; exhibited 2013-2015 Kunsthalle Mannheim Mannheim, Germany — Museum Frieder Burda Baden-Baden, Germany Collection holdings Essl Museum – Kunst der Gegenwart Klosterneuburg, Austria Collection holdings Denver Art Museum Denver, USA Collection holdings MOCA - The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, USA Collection holdings Arken Museum of Contemporary Art Denmark Collection holdings Kunstfond Sachsen Saxony, Germany State art fund collection Sparkasse Leipzig Leipzig, Germany Corporate collection Kunst in der Sachsen Bank / Sammlung Landesbank Baden-Württemberg Germany Banking collection - Awards and Recognition
Institution Year Significance Award German Academy Rome Villa Massimo 2013 One of the most important awards granted to German artists for study abroad; included working scholarship at Istituto centrale per la grafica in Rome Villa Massimo Fellowship (German Rome Prize) Thomaskirche Leipzig 2009 Major ecclesiastical commission for historic church where J.S. Bach served as cantor Commission: Friedensfenster (Peace Window) Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig — — Master class scholarship from the state of Saxony
Career & Biography
- Career
- Career Stage
- Mid-career (25+ years professional practice)
- Artistic Movement
- New Leipzig School (third generation)
- Career Highlights
Year Significance Event 2002 Important platform for New Leipzig School artists until its closure in 2004 Co-founded LIGA gallery in Berlin with fellow Leipzig School artists including Tilo Baumgärtel, Christoph Ruckhäberle, Martin Kobe, Jörg Lozek, and Matthias Weischer 2009 Major public commission demonstrating institutional recognition Commissioned to design the Friedensfenster (Peace Window) for Thomaskirche in Leipzig 2013 Prestigious German Rome Prize, one of Germany's most important awards for artists abroad; included working scholarship at Istituto centrale per la grafica Villa Massimo Fellowship, Rome - Early Breakthrough
- Part of 'sieben mal malerei' (seven times painting) exhibition in 2003 that was acquired by Rubell Family Collection, leading to international exposure
- Professional Roles
- paintervisual artist
- Identity
- Gender
- male
- Full Name
- David Schnell
- Birth Year
- 1971
- Birth Place
- Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
- Nationality
- German
- Getty Ulan Id
- 500122851
- Current Location
- Lives and works in Leipzig, Germany
- Education
- Institutions
Name Period Location Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Academy of Visual Arts) 1995-2000 Leipzig, Germany Master class under Professor Arno Rink 2000-2002 Leipzig, Germany
- Artistic Context
- Influences
- Neo Rauch, Arno Rink, East German social realism tradition, cultivated landscapes around Leipzig
- Peer Group
- New Leipzig School artists including Neo Rauch, Matthias Weischer, Christoph Ruckhäberle, Tim Eitel, Tilo Baumgärtel, Martin Kobe
- Historical Context
- Post-reunification Germany; emerged during climate when Leipzig became central to figurative painting revival in early 2000s
- Contemporary Influences
- Barnaby Furnas, Jules de Balincourt
Artistic Profile
- Style
- Color Palette
- Ranges from monochrome to prism-like light refractions; vibrant, pulsating colors; rich and varied chromatic relationships
- Visual Language
- Combines naturalistic landscape elements with artificial architectural structures; creates tension between organic and constructed; ambiguous spatial relationships; multi-layered perspectival complexity
- Compositional Approach
- Structured with vanishing points and vertical lines; emphasis on central perspective (earlier work) transitioning to bird's-eye views (recent work); visible composition lines guide viewer's eye
- Primary Characteristics
- Landscape painting with architectural interventionsFragmented spatial constructionsAbstract and geometric elements within representational frameworkShifting perspectives - from central point perspective to aerial/overhead views (evolution in recent work)Colorful and prismatic light effectsDynamic spatial kaleidoscope effect
- Evolution
- Mid Period 2010s
- Continued exploration of landscape with increasing abstraction; commissioned works including Thomaskirche window (2009)
- Recent Work 2020s
- Shift to overhead/aerial perspectives; 'angel of history' viewpoint; view 'from the tower, from the apex of the pyramid, from inexorable camera circling in the sky'; increased fragmentation; sacred spaces and interiors with suspended geometric elements; earth viewed from above showing agricultural infrastructure
- Early Period 2000s
- Central perspective landscapes with architectural intrusions; cultivated landscapes around Leipzig; forests and clearings with geometric interventions
- Stylistic Trajectory
- Increasing abstraction while maintaining landscape foundation; shift from human-centered perspective to machine/divine overview; growing emphasis on spatial dissolution and transformation
- Influences
- Teachers
- Arno Rink (master class professor, Leipzig Academy)Sighard Gille (second-generation Leipzig School)
- Historical Influences
- East German social realismGerman landscape painting tradition (referenced back to Cranach and Beckmann)Leipzig School founders: Bernhard Heisig, Werner Tübke, Wolfgang Mattheuer
- Contemporary Influences
- Neo Rauch (fellow Leipzig artist, teacher)Barnaby FurnasJules de Balincourt
- Art Historical References
- Clyfford Still's 'jagged, atomised surfaces' noted as influence in recent work
- Visual Language
- Abstraction Level
- High degree of abstraction while maintaining engagement with photographable nature; recognizable sources rendered unrecognizable through dynamic perspective
- Pictorial Strategy
- Creates 'illusory space' where 'laws of perspective seem both familiar and entirely transformed'
- Viewing Experience
- Captivates through central perspective and visible composition; multicolored pictorial space where 'artificial architectonic elements violate natural space'; recent work adopts 'non-human' machine/angel perspective
- Spatial Construction
- Multi-layered depth combined with surface flatness; 'precarious but precise balance between illusionistic depth and handling of surface'
- Themes and Subjects
- Primary Subjects
- Cultivated landscapes around LeipzigForests, meadows, clearings, fieldsArchitectural spaces and interiorsUrban infrastructure from aerial perspective
- Symbolic Elements
- Hovering laths, functionless bars in ground, suspended geometric forms; deserted places undergoing transformation; structures that reveal themselves through fragmentation
- Thematic Concerns
- Man's relationship to natureTension between natural and artificialPost-reunification German landscape - physical and psychologicalDisillusionment and melancholyMemory and transformation of familiar placesTemporal instability - 'destabilization of time itself'Cultural criticism of human attempts to impose order on nature
- Movements and Periods
- Generation
- Third generation of Leipzig School
- Primary Movement
- New Leipzig School (Neue Leipziger Schule)
- Historical Context
- Post-reunification Germany (post-1989); emerged in context of renewed international interest in figurative painting in early 2000s
- Movement Characteristics
- Combination of East German social realism tradition with contemporary Western influences; technical rigor from Leipzig Academy training; figurative painting during period dominated by conceptual and installation art
- Techniques and Mediums
- Scale
- Ranges from intimate works to large-scale paintings (up to 360 x 290 cm documented)
- Primary Medium
- Painting (oil and acrylic on canvas)
- Works on Paper
- Printmaking (screenprints, linocuts, etchings); drawings
- Technique Notes
- Classical painting techniques learned at Leipzig Academy; use of graphite scaling grids; forced perspective; careful attention to color; rigorous foundation in figure drawing adapted to landscape
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Critical Quotes
- Context
- Described New Leipzig School artists including Schnell as sharing 'technical skill, devotion to figurative art and predilection for dry-eyed, melancholy subject matter'; Schnell's 'rotten barns' landscapes cited as emanating 'disenchantment endemic' to post-reunification Leipzig
- Context
- Describing movement as 'Pop-Surrealist-Social Realist style' emerging from 'painters who came in from the cold'
- Context
- Dubbed 'East-Realo-Look' as part of 'Kraut Art' phenomenon
- Context
- Praised Schnell's 'flexibility and nonchalance in manipulating identifiable elements with pictorial data'; noted artist's 'deliberately impure' style and 'tangle of contradictions'
- Critical Themes
- Technical skill and devotion to figurative artMelancholy subject matter reflecting post-reunification disillusionmentLandscape painting as primary focusCombination of figurative and abstract elementsManipulation of perspective and architectural spaceInterplay of naturalness and artificialityCultural criticism through depiction of man's attempt to impose order on nature
- Movement Context
- Associated with New Leipzig School, described by MoMA curator Joachim Pissarro in 2006 as 'suddenly the hottest thing on earth'; movement experienced intense international interest 2003-2009
- Critical Positioning
- Viewed as accomplished mid-tier member of New Leipzig School; recognized for technical mastery and distinctive approach to landscape; not as critically dominant as Neo Rauch but respected within movement
- Publications and Media
- Monographs
- Exhibition catalogues function as primary scholarly documentation
- Media Coverage
- Featured in major art publications during peak New Leipzig School period (2004-2009); ongoing coverage in German art press
- Scholarly Attention
- Included in major texts on New Leipzig School and contemporary German painting; documented in museum exhibition catalogues
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
- Notes
- Primary presence through Galerie EIGEN + ART's fair program
- Major Fairs
- Art Basel Miami Beach (via Rubell Collection presentations 2004)Berlin Art Week (regular participation via EIGEN + ART)
- Representation
- Primary Gallery
- Name
- Galerie EIGEN + ART
- Notes
- Gerd Harry Lybke credited with championing New Leipzig School through 'canny promotion work' and introducing works to American art market
- Since
- Early 2000s (represented since beginning of career)
- Founder
- Gerd Harry Lybke
- Locations
- Leipzig, GermanyBerlin, Germany
- Gallery Tier
- Leading German contemporary gallery; represents Neo Rauch and multiple New Leipzig School artists
- Gallery Profile
- Founded April 10, 1983 in Leipzig (former East Germany); opened Berlin branch 1992; represents 37+ international artists; instrumental in promoting New Leipzig School internationally
- Historical Galleries
- Name
- LIGA (producers' gallery)
- Role
- Co-founder
- Period
- 2002-2004
- Location
- Berlin, Germany
- Significance
- Self-organized gallery with fellow Leipzig School artists; important platform before closure in 2004; contributed to establishing 'New Leipzig School' term
- Secondary Representation
- Name
- Eduardo Secci (SECCI Gallery)
- Location
- Florence/Milan, Italy
- Recent Activity
- Solo exhibition 'NOVO' 2022
- Geographic Reach
- Market Strength
- Strong European base with significant US collector interest established in mid-2000s
- Primary Markets
- GermanyUnited StatesEurope
- Exhibition Countries
- GermanyNetherlandsUnited StatesUnited KingdomItalySwitzerlandAustriaKoreaPuerto RicoSpainChinaDenmarkHungaryBelgium
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