Wolfgang Tillmans has been awarded the 2026 Roswitha Haftmann Prize, worth CHF 150,000.
Based between London and Berlin, the German photographer came to prominence in the 1990s through his intimate portraits of the European club scene and the LGBTQIA+ community. Throughout his nearly four decade career, he has expanded his practice to encompass a variety of traditional photography genres including still life and landscape, maintaining an interest in social critique and in the materiality of his images. Alongside his work in photography, Tillmans has been active in promoting democracy through the launch of an anti-Brexit campaign in 2016, a campaign to encourage voting in the German Federal Parliament elections in 2017 and in the European elections in 2019 and 2024, as well as through the establishment of the Between Bridges foundation in 2017, that supports the arts, LGBTQIA+ rights and anti-racism work.
‘Wolfgang Tillmans is unquestionably one of the trailblazing artists of his generation in the field of photography internationally. His artistic practice goes far beyond the purely aesthetic, harnessing public presence and language to foster a collective democratic consciousness founded on openness and solidarity’, said Bernhart Schwenk, member of the board of the Roswitha Haftmann Foundation and head of the contemporary art collection at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, in a statement.
The award ceremony will take place on 17 September at the Kunsthaus Zürich.
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