Art Basel mourns the passing of its co-founder, Trudl Bruckner

Art Basel bids farewell to its co-founder Trudl Bruckner, who passed away last week. She opened her Riehentor gallery in Basel in 1956 and mounted more than 200 exhibitions over the next 44 years, giving early shows to artists such as Helmut Federle and Franz Gertsch. Throughout her long and distinguished career, she was a vibrant and dynamic woman who worked in a deliberately modest, carefully considered and highly effective way on behalf both of her artists and Basel's art scene.

In the late 1960s, she convinced two fellow Basel gallerists, Ernst Beyeler and Balz Hilt, to found with her the fair then known simply as 'Art', which launched in 1970 and immediately established its presence on the international scene. For decades thereafter, she was both a leader and a steadfast exhibitor within the show. The directors and team of Art Basel mourn her passing after a long and full life in the cultural sphere. We will always honor the memory of this founding figure, whose leitmotif Basel zuliebe (for the love of Basel) laid the foundation for all that Art Basel is today, bringing patronage to artists worldwide.

Thank you, Trudl, for all that you were and all that you built.