Achim Moeller (born July 21, 1942, in Heidelberg, Germany) is a leading art dealer, adviser, art historian, and curator. With more than five decades of experience in the art world, he has become an internationally recognized authority on modern European and American masters. He is particularly noted for his expertise in German Expressionism and the Bauhaus, and is regarded as the authority on the life and work of artists Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) and Mark Tobey (1890–1976).
Moeller's career began in the mid-1960s with positions at prominent auction house Kunsthaus Lempertz (Cologne, New York) and top international art gallery Wildenstein & Company (New York). He then served as a director and vice president of the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery (New York) during its heyday. He also held advisory positions with Serge Sabarsky and Roman Norbert Ketterer.
In 1972, Moeller opened his own gallery, Achim Moeller Ltd., in London. In 1984, he relocated to New York, reopening as Moeller Fine Art Ltd.
Moeller Fine Art is the foremost gallery in the United States for works by the German Expressionists and the masters of the Bauhaus. The gallery has sold numerous major works by Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Otto Mueller, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Lyonel Feininger, among many others.
Moeller has held advisory roles with notable collectors and institutions. For thirty-three years, he was the curator for and sole advisor to the Hon. John C. Whitehead—co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, deputy secretary of state during the Regan administration, chairman of the American European Association (AEA), and chairman of The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation—whose collection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century French masters has been exhibited in top institutions worldwide. Moeller also advised David Lloyd Kreeger, chairman of Geico and president of the Corcoran. For forty-four years, he has been working with an important art collector and patron, advising on works by Paul Klee, Marcel Duchamp, Nicolas de Staël, Lucio Fontana, Tom Wesselmann, and other major figures. Moeller has advised an important private Swiss collector on Lyonel Feininger for twenty years and serves numerous private and museum clients in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He assisted Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum with the deaccession and sale of 25 works by Paul Klee and acquired a considerable number of works by Albert Gleizes for the collection.
Moeller is the founder of two significant artist projects: The Lyonel Feininger Project LLC (founded 1986) and The Mark Tobey Project LLC (founded 2007). These initiatives are dedicated to advancing scholarship and curatorial work related to these two influential artists and have led to important exhibitions and publications including, the Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Lyonel Feininger and Years of Friendship, 1944–1956: The Correspondence of Lyonel Feininger and Mark Tobey (2006). Moeller published Volume I (1907–1918) of the Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Lyonel Feininger in 2016 and is currently preparing Volume II (1919–1936) and Volume III (1937–1956).
Moeller has authored numerous exhibition catalogues and publications, including The Enchanted World of Lyonel Feininger (2020); Paul Klee: Early and Late Years, 1894–1940 (2013); and Lyonel Feininger: Drawings and Watercolors from the Julia Feininger Estate (2011). He has curated major exhibitions and worked on significant retrospectives, such as Lyonel Feininger Retrospective at The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2023), Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) at The Fundación Juan March in Madrid (2017), and Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2011).
Moeller Fine Art has exhibited at major international art fairs, including Art Basel, Art Cologne, and the Armory Show.
Moeller has facilitated important sales to museums and collections worldwide, among them the Art Institute of Chicago, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Gallery, and Museum Ludwig.
Art Institute of Chicago
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Collection Berggruen, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington
Kunsthaus, Zürich
Kunstmuseum Basel
Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Museum Lyonel Feininger, Quedlinburg
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
New Orleans Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Tate Gallery, London
The British Museum, London
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne
Moeller is a respected member of several professional organizations, including:
Art Dealers Association of America (1989–present)
Catalogue Raisonné Scholar Association (2000–present)
Confédération Internationale des Negociants en Œuvres d’Arts) (1977–present)
International Fine Print Dealers Association (2016–present)
Society of London Art Dealers (1977–1984)
Syndicate Nationale des Antiquaires et Negociants en Oeuvres d’Arts, France (1989–present)
Moeller has played a pivotal role in shaping the market for twentieth-century European and American art. His scholarly contributions and curatorial efforts continue to enhance the history and understanding of modern art, and his gallery remains a key player in the international art scene.
His gallery, Moeller Fine Art, is located in New York City in the annex of the Metropolitan Club in a space previously occupied by the American Academy in Rome.
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