Bruno Bischofberger, champion of Andy Warhol, dies at 86

Bruno Bischofberger, an art dealer who had a significant bearing on the career of famed pop artist Andy Warhol and other artists, has died. He was 86.

Bischofberger’s death was announced in a post to social media by his eponymous gallery in Switzerland. No cause of death was given.

Within hours of the announcement, the gallery’s post had already garnered dozens of comments from art world figures mourning “the last and greatest of the 20th century art dealers.”

Dealer Ron Rivlin, founder and director of Revolver Gallery in Los Angeles, gave tribute with a story about his own encounters with Bischofberger after acquiring a Basquiat-Warhol collaboration painting.

“He heard I was the buyer and called me to tell me a story about how he and Fred Hughes flipped a coin for it, and Fred got it. He helped me get the painting into the Louis Vuitton Foundation exhibit a few years ago and later Brant Foundation. He didn’t need to do that,” Rivlin said.

“He shared stories with me that aren’t well documented about Andy and him. One day, I randomly received a book of Warhol photos signed by him to me. What he accomplished in life was immeasurable during that era. He also told me about his family and the love he had for them. RIP Bruno.”

The artist Maripol Rama called him a “visionary collector” while adviser Michael Jefferson called him an “Incredible human and one of the greatest collector/dealers of all time.”

Bischofberger was born in Zurich in 1940 and studied at the University of Zurich, as well as at universities in Bonn and Munich, according to his gallery’s website.

The dealer, who first opened his gallery in Zurich in 1963, presented a major pop art exhibition from June 15 to July 10, 1965, featuring works by Warhol and other artists. The following year, he met Warhol in New York for the first time, and the pair became friends.

Warhol, in 1968, granted Bischofberger the right of first refusal for any future artwork made in a landmark agreement after the dealer acquired 11 of the artist’s early paintings. At the time, Warhol had presented about 20 of his works to the dealer because he wanted to give up painting to work in film. That agreement lasted until Warhol’s death in 1987.

Bischofberger then commissioned Warhol to paint a portrait of him and established a fixed-fee scheme to commission the artist for future portraits of his clients, according to the biography. He also supported Warhol’s other endeavors, including acquiring a 25% stake in Interview magazine.

In May 1982, Bischofberger reached out to Jean-Michel Basquiat after he left Annina Nosei's gallery and ultimately became his worldwide exclusive art dealer, an agreement that lasted until Basquiat’s death in 1988. He was even played by Dennis Hopper in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 film Basquiat.

Bischofberger is also credited with commissioning collaborations between Warhol, Basquiat and artist Francesco Clemente in 1984, which were then shown in an exhibition in Zurich. Today, Warhol-Basquiat collaborations are worth millions.

Beyond Warhol, some of the artists whose works he exhibited included Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Yves Klein, Donald Judd, Richard Serra and Sol LeWitt.

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