SARA TRÖSTER KLEMM
Art Historian and Author
Art Historian · Author · Art Consultant
Expert in Cultural Analysis, Strategic Art Communication
&
Collection Development
I work at the intersection of art history, contemporary practice, and strategic communication. With a PhD in art history and international experience, I support artists, collectors, museums, galleries, and institutions in developing rigorous texts, curatorial positions, and sustainable collection structures.
My work combines scholarly precision, a structured analytical method for image interpretation, and a clear understanding of today’s cultural and institutional contexts — from exhibition narratives and catalogues to collection digitization and advisory in the art market.
My expertise lies in rigorous art historical analysis, strategic cultural communication, and the professional support of artists, collections, and cultural institutions. I work with individuals and organizations who take art seriously—artists seeking precise critical positioning, institutions aiming for intellectual clarity and visibility, and companies and collectors committed to preserving, interpreting, and responsibly activating cultural heritage.
My core areas of expertise include:
-
Analytical and interpretive writing for artists, collectors, museums, and galleries
-
Art consulting for private and corporate collections
-
Scholarly documentation and contextualization of historical holdings
-
Strategic advisory on positioning, visibility, and cultural narrative
-
International exchange within contemporary art discourse
Currently I'm deeply engaged in the digitization and art historical analysis of the Mansfeld Gallery, a unique corporate art collection originating in the former GDR, rooted in mining, metallurgy, and industrial history. This project brings together my academic research, archival precision, and long-standing interest in how art operates within broader social, political, and historical frameworks.
My working method is analytical, focused, and exacting—characterized by conceptual clarity, linguistic precision, and a strong commitment to cultural relevance and long-term value. The project was featured on TV by MDR on March 14, 2025.
Five books and numerous publications
In 2015 I published my Ph.D. thesis Tim Eitel. Das investigative Bild (Tim Eitel. The investigative painting) with the publishing house Gebr. Mann Verlag Berlin. It was followed by three meticulously researched yet entertaining books about contemporary art and modern history commissioned by the Friends of the Dresden City Art Gallery. My first published book was my master’s thesis in 2008, a description of The Temptation of St Anthony.
My work
As well as essays, reviews and articles for magazines and books, I also wrote various websites and catalogues for artists in Europe, the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. I was also recently commissioned by collectors Terry and John Rakolta Jr. to research and write about their newly purchased Transcending Conflict Art Collection, an important collection of works by artists from the Middle East including Shirin Neshat, Dia Al-Azzawi, Ayman Baalbaki and Reza Aramesh. A selection of my previous publications is listed here.
My offer for artists
Do not hesitate to contact me if you would like a text about your artistic work - be it individual paintings or your life's work. After a personal conversation, I will make you an individual offer.
Exhibitions
In 2016, I curated Global Home – Yes Paradise No at the Observation Deck at 300 of the Etihad Towers, the tallest building in Abu Dhabi. Conceived as an international exhibition under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and Stanislaw Tillich, Minister President of the Free State of Saxony, the project brought together artists from Europe and the Middle East to explore questions of home, identity, and global interconnectedness. Participating artists included Isabelle Krieg, Stefan Guggisberg, Mandy Kunze, Khaled Al-Saai, Benjamin Dittrich, among others.
Sponsors:
MEISSEN I A. LANGE & SÖHNE I ETIHAD TOWERS I WIRTSCHAFTSFÖRDERUNG SACHSEN I SIMPLY SAXONY I SCHENDERLEIN RECHTSANWÄLTE
FAST–TRACK TO ART
Imagine what it would be like to honestly impress your counterpart with real art expertise and the best insider knowledge: What is shown? How and why was the picture created and what references to other works of art history does the enthusiastic art connoisseur discover?
Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to demonstrate parallels to Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn or Claude Monet, and to experience what an enriching dialogue develops from this? But how are you supposed to know exactly ?!
My offer for Art collectors
Have you just bought a painting or a graphic and the work of art is now emblazoned on the wall in your business or private space? Imagine what it would be like to speak competently about this single work! But where do you get the know-how and knowledge for it? After all, it's only marginally about how you like the picture, which colors and objects can be recognized on it, and also not under what circumstances you acquired it - even if that can of course be a wonderful anecdote as an introduction to an enriching art talk !
Texts for Artists
Artists who want their work to be truly seen and understood benefit from a language that does justice to their visual thinking. I work closely with artists to translate their pictorial language into precise, compelling texts. Through in-depth engagement with the work, I articulate what makes an artistic practice distinctive and position it convincingly in catalogs, on websites, and in dialogue with curators, collectors, and selection committees.
Clients benefit from my international expertise, trained analytical eye, and a collaborative process that elevates artistic profiles with clarity and confidence.
Services include:
-
In-depth visual analysis and art historical contextualization
-
Artist statements and professional biographies
-
Texts for exhibition catalogs, publications, and websites
-
Applications for grants, residencies, and funding programs
-
Strategic positioning and narrative development
-
A tailored social media package via my professional channels
My texts are read and valued by museums, galleries, and international institutions. They combine scholarly rigor with linguistic elegance—ensuring that art unfolds its full impact where it matters most.
References
"For an artist it is really nice to notice when someone looks benevolently on matters close to their heart. It is even better if this happens with such wisdom and accuracy as yours."
MICHAEL TRIEGEL
Artist
"Thank you so much for the wonderful article - so interesting and so great written."
NIKLAS MAAK
Art department head of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"excellent scientific contribution" and "lucid interpretations". "Mrs. Tröster Klemm is admirably literate and can explain Eitel's works through many clever comparisons."
PROF. DR. JÜRGEN MÜLLER
via The Investigative Image
"surprisingly brilliant introduction" and "outstanding art-immanent analysis of some selected works"
PROF. DR. ULRICH BISCHOFF
via The Investigative Image
"We have already received the specimen copy of your beautiful book, we are impressed."
MUSEUM FRIEDER BURDA, BADEN-BADEN
2015 about The Investigative Image
"Special originality (...) very unusual research-intensive work", "impressive."
PROF. DR. DR. HC THOMAS W. GAEHTGENS
Founding director of the German Forum for Art History in Paris and until 2018 director of the Getty Research Institute GRI in Los Angeles on my master's thesis Die Große Diagonale
"(...) I was particularly impressed by the sparkling imagination of your text, which often reminded me of the best traditions of science fiction literature - think of Stanislaw Lem."
MARTIN KÖHLER
Senior Vice President Boston Consulting Group
about The New Slaves
WHY WORK WITH ME
-
PhD in Art History (summa cum laude)
-
Academic training at Freie Universität Berlin, Sorbonne Paris, and TU Dresden
-
Publications in FAZ, DIE ZEIT, Contemporary Practices, Tagesspiegel, and the Journal of Art History
-
Extensive international experience (USA, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Europe)
-
Scholarly excellence combined with contemporary expertise in writing and cultural communication
-
Absolute reliability, precision, and discretion
-
Proven experience working with corporate and private art collections
-
Premium quality in analysis, language, and conceptual development
My intellectual and creative focus lies in cross-over writing that moves fluidly between scholarship, lived experience, and the language of art. I consistently explore the threshold between academic analysis, literary form, and visual interpretation. As a result, my art-historical texts are characterized by a refined, literary sensibility. In my privately circulated literary works, I take this approach even further.
Writing is not merely a profession for me—it is a way of thinking and engaging with the world. I allow myself the full range of intellectual and stylistic freedom that truly rigorous, enduring texts demand. Alongside selected art-historical essays, readers may also encounter my short fiction.
"Art is like medicine – it can heal. Yet I've always been amazed at how many people believe in medicine but don't believe in art, without questioning either."
Damien Hirst
Kooperationen
ERLEBNISWELT MUSEEN I EU I FREISTAAT SACHSEN I UNITED ARAB EMIRATES MINISTRY OF CULTURE & KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT I ETIHAD TOWERS ABU DHABI I MEISSEN I A. LANGE & SÖHNE GLASHÜTTE I WIRTSCHAFTSFÖRDERUNG SACHSEN I SIMPLY SAXONY I SALWA ZEIDAN GALLERY, Abu Dhabi I LEILA HELLER GALLERY, Dubai I SCHENDERLEIN RECHTSANWÄLTE, Leipzig I MSB & PARTNERS, Zürich I FAZ I DIE ZEIT I TAGESSPIEGEL I EMMA I JOURNAL OF ART HISTORY I FREUNDESKREIS DER STÄDTISCHEN GALERIE DRESDEN I UNIVERSITÄT REGENSBURG I TU DRESDEN I KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN CHEMNITZ I FRANCISCO CAROLINUM, Linz I OOE LANDESKULTUR GMBH, Linz I SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, Sydney I THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, Australien I yeswetrust
... Und zahlreiche zeitgenössische Künstlerinnen und Künstler, zum Beispiel
Boushra Almutawakel I Reza Aramesh I Ayman Baalbaki I Hjördis Baacke
Nora Mona Bach I Kurt Bartel I Eva Borner I Peter Buechler I Micha Brendel
Kurt Buchwald I Lisa Chandler I Hannah Cooke I Jörg Danielczyk I Birgit Dieker Lauriane Dine I Benjamin Dittrich I Bettina Düesberg I Isabelle Dutoit
Tim Eitel I Kerstin Flake I Parastou Forouhar I Shahzad Hassan Ghazi I Stefan Guggisberg I Philipp Haager I Erich W. Hartzsch I Inārs Helmūts I Madeleine Kelly
Kim Kluge I Marie Carolin Knoth I Isabelle Krieg I Nina Hannah Kornatz
Mandy Kunze I Axel Krause I Rosa Loy I Zoë MacTaggart I Hannes Möller
Togrul Narimanbekov I Shirin Neshat I Sylvia Ong I Angelika Platen
Jochen Plogsties I Neo Rauch I Christian Rothmann I Khaled Al-Saai I Replicah I Maria Sainz Rueda I Kourosh Salehi I Kris Savic I Titus Schade
Karl-Heinz Stufft-Fischer I Beat Toniolo I Michael Triegel
Michael Volkmer I Irene Wellm I Christina Wildgrube
