Just as the Beatles were breaking up, a small gallery was founded in Basel: Gallery Minimax which, five years later, became von Bartha.
Margareta and Miklos von Bartha met at the graphic design school in Basel and their love for each other – as well as concrete art – led them to open a gallery.

Von Bartha presented its first independent booth at Art Basel in 1978, having previously spent seven years showing with Mr. Carl Laszlo, the famous gallerist and art collector from Basel.

Founded in Buenos Aires in the late 1940s, the group Arte Concreto & Arte Madi were one of the gallery’s most significant “discoveries”. Though their work was influenced by the Swiss Concrete movement “Die Zürcher Konkreten”, it was not until 1990 that it was shown in Switzerland by von Bartha at Art Basel – along with a now-iconic publication on the group’s members. Miklos and Margareta von Bartha brought many of their works to the attention of the international art world, and they now feature in The Cisneros Collection, MoMA, the Musée de Grenoble and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

After opening a gallery space in the Swiss mountains in S-chanf in 2006, Stefan von Bartha joined the family business, establishing a second gallery in Basel in a former garage. Representing a major milestone in von Bartha’s history, the new gallery offers more than 800m2 of exhibition space, as well as offices, storage and a library.

Having been established in 1970, 2020 marks the fiftieth year of von Bartha’s existence. The anniversary will be celebrated with an exciting programme of exhibitions, a major publication and significant changes that will continue to shape its history.