Cultural Guide to Stuttgart | Top 10 Contemporary Art Galleries

Also opened in 1978, the Künstlerhaus was launched as a project by Stuttgart-based artists and supported by the local government as well as private donors. It is the city’s state-backed hub for contemporary art and the largest and most internationally recognizable of the galleries on our list. Some of its artistic directors over the years include Nicolaus Schafhausen, curator of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Ute Meta Bauer, Head of the Visual Arts Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The gallery occupies the premises of a former luggage factory, in keeping with the city’s industrial feel; in addition to its cutting-edge exhibitions, the space is also a library of books acquired or donated by the artistic directors, documenting the institution’s history and the development of late 20th century art. A definite must-visit for the culturally inclined.

Located in the center of Stuttgart, Kunsthaus und Galerie Keim was established in 1950 by Karin Keim and changed hands in 1997, belonging now to Thomas Niecke, a curator whose long career in Baden-Württenberg has made him an expert on the local art scene. The gallery specializes in post-1945 art and with Niecke it has developed a strong presence on the market, with exhibitions focusing on diverse media and forms of representation, from a recent show on the form of the mask in art, to conceptually themed painting and sculpture exhibits.

Stuttgart is a particularly multicultural city: 40% of its population is of non-German ancestry. In this context, the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, which translates to ‘the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations.’ Founded in 1917, it was first intended as an attempt to improve the image of Germany abroad after the First World War. Apart from organizing and supporting cultural activities, it maintains two art galleries, one of which is located in Stuttgart, displaying the work of major international and German artists, such as the recent site-specific exhibition by South African artist Moshekwa Langa and by celebrated German photographer Sibylle Bergemann.

Founded in 1986, Kaess-Weiss is an exclusive exhibition space that’s open by appointment only. Do not let that deter you though, for its collection is a succession of hidden gems of 20th century art, boasting works by a stellar group of artists, among them Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Alighiero e Boetti, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Tom Wesselmann. It is a true small museum of modernist, conceptual and pop art, just a stone’s throw away from the Baden-Württenberg Arts Foundation, allowing for the perfect afternoon intake of both local and global culture in Stuttgart.