Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 6 2025

Our company was founded 15 years ago – initially without a portfolio and with a focus on serving customers in the renewable energy and logistics sectors. In the field of art insurance, the market seemed divided and, compared to other areas, had low margins with low premium rates. Price is one thing, expertise is another, and the latter opened up the opportunity for us to provide a tailor-made offer for the specific requirements of a clientele with an affinity for art. Our motto: Wherever art is involved, we could be involved with our services. 15 years also allow for a brief retrospective. From 2012 to 2021, we organised the Cologne Art Insurance Talk as part of Art Cologne. The topics included: art transport by sea; art, climate and insurance; state indemnity; depreciation; lending and more. Since 2012, we have been supporting museums and associations such as the Federal Association of German Galleries or the Junge Ankauf of the Society for Modern Art at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. We are currently, it seems, the only broker that can insure art transport to and exhibitions in Ukraine. Of course not the war risk – but at least the other risks. In November 2022, we helped to launch an exhibition in Cologne that highlights the independence of Ukrainian art. Worth Fighting For can still be viewed online today (including explanations in Ukrainian).

Kobel's Art Week is published today for the 580th time. For over 11 years, we have provided interested readers with this annotated press review of the art market free of charge, combined with our news blog, which also covers general topics. For the next two weeks, we will refrain from commenting on the general situation in the hope that one or the other emotion will cool down and discussions about the matter will resurface.

In China, the year of the snake has begun.

We wish everyone a good, confident start to the new week and enlightening reading with Kobel's art week.

Kind regards, Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne