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Best Gallery In Austria: CITYgalleryVIENNA / 2026 WORLD ART AWARDS

Thom Bierdz

9 min readMay 4, 2026

The World Art Awards has announced the 20 Best International Galleries for the year 2026 with CITYgalleryVIENNA receiving the award for the Best Gallery in Austria. Selections are based on years established, industry reputation, location, size, aesthetics, socially relevant exhibits, motivational and educational programs, online presence, represented artists — and references from artists, clients, and visitors.

World Art Awards: “In a 330m² space with a 4-meter ceiling height, CITYgalleryVIENNA showcases art by both emerging and established artists. More than 300 exhibits and up to 50 artists change at least every two weeks. The gallery is run by artists who have decades of experience in management.”

CITYgalleryVIENNA is run by Thomas Leimer and Polina Milikina.

Thomas Leimer (founder and owner) and Polina Milikina (co-founder, curator and art expert) have been developing the brand “publicartists” since 2018. Publicartists is an open ecosystem for artists and art lovers — the combination of a physical gallery in the heart of Vienna, the networking of virtual 360° galleries in ARTVERSE and the international platform publicartists.online.

After three years of testing initial ideas and implementing concepts with small exhibition projects in Vienna’s eighth district, such as the “publicartists exhibitionspace,” they found a location in September 2022 that truly fulfills their vision. A place where both emerging and established artists can present their magnificent works in a professional environment.

CITYgalleryVIENNA represents a completely reimagined art world, bringing affordable art to the people without barriers and putting artists in the spotlight. They place equal emphasis on warmth and professionalism, offering artists and art lovers an incredible diversity. Since they change approximately a third of the artworks every week, a regular visit is definitely worthwhile to admire around 300 works by more than 30 artists seven days a week.

They see this as an artists’ collective; the artists are part of the gallery, which is why they don’t take a sales commission and all proceeds from sold works go directly to the artists. This way, Thomas and Polina genuinely feel happy about every piece that finds a new owner through their network, even if it was never on their walls.

Publicartists also offers artist profiles, websites for artists, virtual galleries, and a platform for connecting artists, galleries, and art enthusiasts worldwide.

Website: https://publicartists.online/

Mahlerstraße 11/Gallery
1010 Vienna, Austria

info@publicartists.online

Thomas +43 676 5623521

Polina +43 650 6015690

World Art Awards: “This year we awarded revered historical art establishments having the highest standards of curatorial excellence presenting endless inventories of blue-chip Old Master originals, placing works in top collections across the globe. We also selected many newer hot-spot galleries setting trends with hyperrealism, digital and AI works, demonstrating community-focused workshops and panel discussions bridging the gap between aesthetic expression and pressing societal issues.

“All our Top 20 Galleries have rotating schedules of diverse exhibitions, a few partner with corporations, a number also publish annual catalogues of their exceptional international rosters and the majority actively participate at significant global gatherings akin to Art Basel, Frieze and TEFAF Maastricht.

“We opted for many high-rated private galleries in disparate countries representing important young work, from painting to digital to photography to sculpture. All these galleries are a vital part of the international art forum while focusing on advancing their regional artists, be they Austrian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Israeli, Mexican, Moroccan or from the American Southwest.

“We honored the largest gallery in Arizona, a 20,000 square foot Sedona mystical temple displaying the finest of every style with emphasis on cutting-edge spiritual art, as does our Bulgarian winner.

“We chose a renowned three-story London showplace exhibiting heralded contemporary Eastern and Western art and also Australia’s premier glassworks facility. We selected a Florida institution which has expanded to four locations, equaling 20,000 square feet giving it the largest exhibition space in South Florida with close proximity to Art Basel & Art Miami.

“We selected the only gallery in Taiwan that has focused on the art of photography for over 17 years with high-ranking photographers from the region as well as from Germany, Britain, France, Poland, Japan, South Korea, USA and China. We also decided on large, modern art facilities in Denmark, England, Morocco and USA with influential international presences.”