Victoria Miro Gallery

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 Florence 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. 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."

Wharf Road

In November 2000, the gallery moved to its present location in 16 Wharf Road, Islington, adjacent to the cutting-edge art area of Hoxton, where it is housed in a two floor, 10,000-square-foot (930 m²), converted Victorian furniture factory, ten times the size of the Cork Street gallery. Miro's co-director, Glenn Scott Wright, attributed the move to the "buzz" in the area, where Jay Jopling's White Cube gallery had also moved, and saw other galleries following suit, since rents in the West End of London were quadrupling. She was described by Christie's curator, Gerard Goodrow, as "a leading figure in making the East End the center of contemporary art in London."

A group show prior to the conversion of the building brought 4,000 visitors, which it would have taken the Cork Street gallery six months to attract. The conversion architect, Trevor Horne retained some of the original features of the building, such as the worn staircase and rough roof beams, while the waste ground at the rear next to Regent's Canal was left to artist Ian Hamilton Finlay to regenerate. The opening show by Thomas Demand was of paper and card reconstructions of photographs of interiors.

The gallery's yearly turnover is in the tens of millions of pounds.

The gallery represents Turner Prize winners, Chris Ofili and Grayson Perry; and former Turner Prize nominees Peter Doig (a former Tate trustee), Ian Hamilton Finlay, and Isaac Julien. Other artists, as of 2008, are Doug Aitken, Hernan Bas, Varda Caivano, Verne Dawson, Stan Douglas, Elmgreen and Dragset, William Eggleston, Inka Essenhigh, Barnaby Furnas, David Harrison, Alex Hartley, NS Harsha, Christian Holstad, Chantal Joffe, Idris Khan, Udomsak Krisanamis, Yayoi Kusama, John Korner, Tracey Moffatt, Wangechi Mutu, Alice Neel, Jacco Olivier, Tal R, Conrad Shawcross, Sarah Sze, Adriana Varejão, Suling Wang, Stephen Willats, and Francesca Woodman.

St George Street

In 2013, Victoria Miro Gallery opened a second space in a converted bank office in St George Street, Mayfair, designed by Claudio Silvestrin and executed by project architect Michael Drain.

Tate's purchase of The Upper Room

The Upper Room by Chris Ofili was exhibited at the Victoria Miro gallery in 2002: it consists of thirteen paintings, each of a rhesus macaque monkey, installed in a purpose-built room designed by David Adjaye. Adrian Searle, art critic of The Guardian, wrote that it was a work the Tate had to buy. In July 2005, the Tate announced the purchase of the work as the centrepiece of a new hang at Tate Britain.

The Stuckist art group then drew press attention to the fact that Ofili was a serving Tate trustee, and, under the Freedom of Information Act, obtained Tate trustee minutes, as well as the price paid by the Tate for the work—£705,000 (costing the Tate £600,000 as VAT could be reclaimed). This resulted in a media furore, and other details emerged about the transaction.

The Tate had attempted to reduce the price, but Miro refused: she said she had lowered it from the price she originally wanted of £750,000 to £600,000 (making £705,000, including VAT).

The Sunday Telegraph obtained an email sent by Victoria Miro to Tate director, Sir Nicholas Serota, in November 2002:

There is also extra pressure as Chris is getting married next week and I suspect he may be less willing than previously to wait for an extended period in terms of finance. Evidently, especially as Chris is a trustee, this is a sensitive situation, but if you could give me some indication as to which way to proceed, I will ensure that your decision is handled with discretion. Ideally I would still love the work to go to the Tate.

Serota said Miro would have to find half the cost, and she obtained £300,000 in donations towards the purchase from five anonymous private benefactors, several of whom were also buying their own Ofili work. The revelation of this arrangement caused questions to be raised in the press as to whether the private benefactors knew privileged information, and if they anticipated a profit through the increased value of Ofili's work after the Tate purchase.

Richard Dorment, art critic of The Daily Telegraph, said The Upper Room was "one of the most important works of British art painted in the last 25 years," that the Tate had got "the bargain of the century," and "If you ask me, Miro and Ofili deserve medals for acting not in their own interests but for the public good." The Times said, "Victoria Miro, Mr Ofili’s dealer, appears to have driven a hard bargain with the Tate, which is the job of a clever dealer." Charles Thomson, co-founder of the Stuckists, said, "Sir Nicholas Serota [the Tate director] mentions Victoria Miro's generosity in constructing this deal. Victoria Miro’s 'generosity' would seem to be in attracting benefactors who will give money to the Tate—so that the Tate can then give it back to her."

In 2006, the Charity Commission censured the Tate for breaking charity (but not criminal) law over the purchase.