Thaddaeus Ropac (born in 1960, Klagenfurt, Austria), is a gallerist specializing in European and American Contemporary art. He owns the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac based in Salzburg (Austria) and Paris (France).
He initially unearthed his passion for art on a school trip to the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna Museum of Art) and went on to serve his first internship with Joseph Beuys in 1982. In New York he became acquainted with young artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe and organized exhibitions of their work in opening his first gallery in Salzburg at the age of 23.
Thaddaeus Ropac is a member of the Advisory Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Vienna, of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) (Vienna), of the European University of Science & Art (Salzburg) and the Salzburg International Festival.
In 2005, Thaddaeus Ropac was named Officier dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French President Jacques Chirac for significant contribution to the arts.
In November 2006, he received the gold cross from the Austrian Republic (VERLEIHUNG GOLDENES VERDIENSTKREUZ DER REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH AN THADDAEUS ROPAC IM BUNDESKANZLERAMT). The Chamber of Commerce in Salzburg awarded him the Art and Culture prize in August 2007 (Kunst und Kulturpreis der Salzburger Wirtschaft).
In May 2008, the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna received 17 works of art of extraordinary quality[1] by Julius Deutschbauer, Walter Obholzer, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Hubert Scheibl and Erwin Wurm,among others from Thaddaeus Ropac's personal collection.
Since 2009, Thaddaeus Ropac has been nominated President of the Board of Trustees of the Salzburg Foundation, which encourages the display of art in public places.
In November 2009, the MdM (Museum der Moderne) in Salzburg organizeed an exhibition of the 25 works of art donated by Thaddaeus Ropac to the Museum’s permanent collection, which includes works by German, Swiss and Austrian artists.[2]
In 2009, the annual chart compiled by the British magazine Art Review called Thaddaeus Ropac "one of Europe’s foremost blue-chip gallerists.[3]”