Private company

Dorotheum

Auction house in Vienna, Austria

The Dorotheum (German pronunciation: ) is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe. Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in other European countries. Besides auctions, the retail sector also plays a major role in Dorotheum's business.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1707Founded¹

Industryauction, trade¹
HeadquartersPalais Dorotheum¹
Websitewww.dorotheum.com
Legal formGesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung¹

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The Dorotheum (German pronunciation: [ˌdoːʀoˈteːʊm] ) is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe. Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in other European countries. Besides auctions, the retail sector also plays a major role in Dorotheum's business. In the Dorotheum, works of art, antiques, furniture, and jewellery from various centuries are put up for auction. The building is constructed in the neo-classical style. It is an attraction for Viennese natives and numerous tourists alike.²

The story

Founding

The firm's establishment as the Versatz- und Fragamt zu Wien was carried out by Emperor Joseph I in 1707. Seventy years later it moved into the former Dorotheerkloster, which gave it its current name of Dorotheum. The new building of the Dorotheum Palace in the location of the old cloister was completed in 1901.

Nazi-era activities

During the Nazi years, the Dorotheum played an important role in selling property seized from Jews by the Gestapo Office for the Disposal of the Property of Jewish Emigrants, known as the Vugesta.The Dorotheum chief expert, Dr. Hans Herbst, was appointed by Hermann Voss, director of Hitler's planned Führermuseum, as an official buyer for the Nazis.

Post-war redevelopment

After WWII the Dorotheum was rebuilt. In 1978 it held 2,722 auctions that grossed $25.2 million. At the end of the 1980s, the building's foyer and interior were redesigned by the Viennese architect and designer Luigi Blau. In 2001, the Dorotheum was sold to an Austrian consortium and since then has greatly expanded, including opening offices abroad in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK. In November 2018, a landscape painting, one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's lesser-known works valued at €160,000, was stolen from the auction house just days before it was scheduled to be auctioned off.

From Wikipedia’s article on Dorotheum, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Controversies and legal

Controversies

In 2001 two landscapes by Norbert Grund that had been looted by Nazis in Holland in 1941 were consigned to the Dorotheum for sale. After public outcry and much discussion, the Dorotheum withdrew the paintings from sale and returned them, not to the consigners but to the "rightful owners".

Recognizing the risk that Nazi-looted art may have passed through the Dorotheum to museums, the State Museums of Vienna published a list of objects purchased from the Dorotheum between 1938 and 1945 to facilitate verification.