the gallery chair.

It looks like a chair, but it’s not.

As far as we know, large Parisian galleries had these customized gallery chairs made from around 1900 onwards so that they could easily present different works at different points in the gallery. Be it in a customer meeting or simply in the shop window. 

The extremely high backrest of our example, which allows also larger pictures to be placed on it, seems to anticipate the emerging modern age with its clear, graphic lines. The filigree nature of the chair and the lightness associated with it is reminiscent of Gio Ponti’s Superleggera chair, which pursued the same goal with its lightness: to be easy to move. 

two mouldings with four integrated brackets each enable different viewing angles to vary the incidence of light on a painting. The simple and elegant wooden construction is ideal for presenting a special piece of work or simply exchange favorite objects from time to time. 

___

artowork sonia delauny: @vg bild-kunst, bonn 2025
artwork pablo picasso: @sucession picasso / vg bild-kunst, bonn 2025