About
Valentina Castellani has extensive knowledge of the art world and market, developed through 25 years of experience in a variety of roles, including positions at Sotheby’s, Gagosian, and as an independent dealer.
As a Deputy Director at Sotheby's in both London and New York for 5 years, Valentina was instrumental in shaping the first ‘20th Century Italian Sale’ auction as well as secure sales on behalf of significant private collections. Thereafter, Valentina served as Senior Director at Gagosian for 11 years, organizing and co-curating many of the gallery’s most acclaimed, blockbuster exhibitions, including several exhibitions on Pablo Picasso – working closely with the Picasso family – as well as retrospective exhibitions on Francis Bacon, Lucio Fontana, and Piero Manzoni. Piero Manzoni: A Retrospective (New York, 2009) won the Art Awards for the Best Exhibition of the Year in a commercial gallery and was listed by “Artforum” as one of 2009’s best art exhibitions. Besides her involvement in exhibitions, Valentina actively worked in the secondary market, sourcing important artworks from prestigious private collections; she has also acted as an artist liaison with living artists like Rudolf Stingel, Cindy Sherman and Francesco Clemente.
She has given lectures as guest speaker at ArteBA, Buenos Aires (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art of Salvador de Bahia (2004); MOMA PS1, New York (2012); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York (2016); the 24ORE Business School, Milan (November 2019); Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art, Washington University, St. Louis (LA) (February 2020); the Grande École des Mines in Paris (2022-2026).
In 2016, Valentina became an independent dealer, focusing on the leading Post-War and Contemporary Art secondary markets. She is the author of "Trading Beauty. Art Market Histories from the Altar to the Gallery", that traces the evolution of the art market from the Middle Ages until now.
Valentina sits on the board of the Casa Italiana at NYU and is co-chair of the board of trustees of The Drawing Center.
