# Peter Fischli artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/peter-fischli/
Profile generated: 2026-05-31T12:42:22.244Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1952-06-08
- Nationality: Swiss
- Movements: Conceptual Art
- Common media: sculpture, photography, film and video, installation

## About Peter Fischli

Peter Fischli (born June 8, 1952, in Zurich) is a Swiss sculptor, photographer, and video artist best known for his decades-long collaboration with David Weiss under the name Fischli/Weiss. Active from 1979 until Weiss's death in 2012, the duo became among the most influential European artists of their generation, working across sculpture, photography, film, and installation. Their celebrated 1987 film Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go) — an elaborate chain reaction of everyday objects — brought them international recognition and remains a landmark of contemporary art cinema. Other signature projects include the multi-part photographic and sculptural series How to Work Better (1991) and the early photographic work Fashion Show (Modenschau, 1979). Their work is held by major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Fischli continues to live and work in Zurich.

## Common works and media

Common work types in auction and appraisal contexts include sculptural assemblages of everyday objects, gelatin silver and color photographs (often produced in series), screenprints and lithographs such as those created for Parkett magazine, single-channel and multi-channel video installations, artist books, and polyurethane sculptures mimicking mundane items. Edition sizes and formats vary; photographs and prints tend to appear more frequently at auction than unique large-scale installations.

## Market and appraisal context

Peter Fischli's auction profile includes work produced both as part of the Fischli/Weiss duo and as a solo practitioner. Collectors most frequently encounter sculptures, photographs, prints and multiples, and editioned video works at auction. Value is strongly influenced by whether a work dates from the collaborative Fischli/Weiss period (1979–2012), the specific medium and edition size, condition, provenance history, and connection to recognized series such as Der Lauf der Dinge or How to Work Better. Institutional exhibition history and inclusion in major collections are additional factors collectors and appraisers should verify.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independently researched artist identity data with public auction records, auction-house cataloguing, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot information when those records are available. The research for this page draws on authority files from the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, alongside museum collection records from MoMA and Tate.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18618551
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fischli_%26_David_Weiss
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500101939
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/102378423/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83208824
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1891
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/peter-fischli-2757
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/214371