Victoria Miro Gallery - Cork Street

Cork Street

Victoria Miro opened her first gallery in Cork Street, West London, in 1985, where she became one of the principal dealers, although the premises at 750 square feet (70 m2) were little larger than a studio apartment. In the late 1980s, she opened a second gallery in Italy, but shut it in 1991 after the art market slump.

She was responsible for starting the careers of some of the most sought-after and controversial artists in the world. Victoria Miro discovered Chris Ofili, whose work The Holy Virgin Mary displayed in 1999 in the Brooklyn Museum of Art angered the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, who said, "There’s nothing in the First Amendment that supports horrible and disgusting projects!" Another discovery, in 1992, was German photographer, Andreas Gursky, one of whose photographs, eight years later, made $250,000 at auction; a major retrospective was held in 2001 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. A work by Cecily Brown, another artist represented by Miro, also sold for a surprisingly high price at auction in 2000.

Long waiting lists of collectors and museums developed to buy work from her successful artists, and Miro reported that even Charles Saatchi, when he bought a Cecily Brown painting from her, "seemed pleased to get one."