Qualla: Saatchi Gallery https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Saatchi Gallery https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery Saatchi Gallery: Introduction https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery/ Photo credit Bonblake, CC BY-SA 4.0. A cow's head, eaten by flies, in a glass vitrine. That was the centerpiece of Charles Saatchi's first Young British Artists show in 1992, and it announced that something strange was happening in a disused paint factory on Boundary Road. The advertising magnate who had helped Margaret Thatcher win an election was using his fortune to buy art that disturbed people for a living. The Saatchi Gallery, which opened in 1985 and now occupies the 70,000-square-foot Duke of York's Headquarters in Chelsea, has been London's most argumentative contemporary art space for four decades - alternately celebrated and excoriated, sued and sued back, but rarely ignored.

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Image: Bonblake | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/gcpu-saatchi-gallery-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Saatchi Gallery: The Paint Factory Years https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery/ Photo credit Reginald Gray, Public domain. Boundary Road, St John's Wood, 1985. A 30,000-square-foot former paint factory in a quiet residential street, painted white inside, became Britain's introduction to American minimalism and pop. The opening show that ran from March to October featured Donald Judd's boxes, Brice Ma...

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Image: Reginald Gray | Public domain

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/gcpu-saatchi-gallery-the-paint-factory-years.mp3 0:06 2 full Saatchi Gallery: Hirst, Sharks, and Sensation https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Then Saatchi reversed course. He sold his American collection and bet on a different bet: the kids. In 1988 a 23-year-old Damien Hirst had organised a show called Freeze in a disused Port of London Authority building, gathering his Goldsmiths classmates. Saatchi bought their work...

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/gcpu-saatchi-gallery-hirst-sharks-and-sensation.mp3 0:06 3 full Saatchi Gallery: Moving House, Twice https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery/ Photo credit Jack Gavigan, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 2003 the gallery moved to County Hall on the South Bank, the Greater London Council's old neo-Baroque headquarters across the Thames from Parliament. A thousand guests came to the launch. Spencer Tunick staged a 'nude happening' with 200 naked people. Hirst, however, refused t...

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Image: Jack Gavigan | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/gcpu-saatchi-gallery-moving-house-twice.mp3 0:06 4 full Saatchi Gallery: Charity, Reversal, and the Long View https://qualla.com/saatchi-gallery/ Photo credit Jack Gavigan, CC BY-SA 3.0. Saatchi has spent decades being accused of manipulating the art market by buying young artists in bulk, anointing them, and selling at the peak. He has also given away thousands of works. In 1999 the gallery donated 100 pieces to the Arts Council's lending collection. In 2000, 40...

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Image: Jack Gavigan | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/saatchi-gallery-wp/gcpu-saatchi-gallery-charity-reversal-and-the-long-view.mp3 0:06 5 full