What role do books play in shaping a life devoted to art?

In this bonus episode of Compelling, host Katy Wellesley Wesley speaks with Staffan Ahrenberg, owner and publisher of Cahiers d'Art, for a quick-fire conversation about the books, habits and dreams that define his approach to art and life. He discusses the formative impact of Malevich's The Non-Objective World and Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, as well as novels such as Camus's L'Étranger and García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Staffan also reveals his unrealised architectural ambitions, including building the Le Corbusier museum originally commissioned by his father in 1962 but never constructed due to political opposition in Stockholm, and creating a library designed by Thomas Schütte in a Swedish forest. He explains his daily practice of rewriting handwritten notes as a mnemonic device, why physical movement matters, and offers powerful advice: be curious and act on that curiosity without hesitation, even when asking provocative questions to Nobel Prize winners or major artists.

Staffan Ahrenberg: Swedish art collector, entrepreneur and film producer, Staffan Ahrenberg is the owner and publisher of Cahiers d’Art, the historic Parisian publishing house and gallery he relaunched in 2012. He has revitalised its revered revue, book and limited‑edition programmes, and co‑founded the nonprofit Cahiers d’Art Institute to publish catalogues raisonnés for leading 20th‑ and 21st‑century artists.

Katy Wellesley Wesley: With over 18 years of leadership across galleries, foundations, and startups, Katy has built a career shaped by curiosity and a drive to explore new ideas. She spent a decade at leading commercial galleries—first at Gagosian, then at Pace, where she was Director of Exhibitions in London. She went on to lead the Villa Lena Foundation in Italy as Director, before joining the founding team of ROKBOX, a pioneering environmentally focused art logistics startup, as Sales Director. After relocating to Paris six years ago, Katy developed a strong interest in the intersection of art and luxury. To deepen this focus, she recently completed an Executive Master’s in Luxury Management and Design Innovation, a joint program between ESSEC Business School and Parsons School of Design. She now works as a consultant to brands, artists, foundations, and collectors. Among her clients is the legendary art publisher Cahiers d’Art, where she heads Commercial Partnerships.

Compelling is proudly in partnership with Cahiers d’Art.

Compelling is produced in collaboration with Cahiers d’Art, the iconic Paris-based art publisher founded in 1926, home of the Catalogue Raisonné of Picasso and most recently the Frank Gehry Drawings Catalogue Raisonné. At the heart of it's publishing program is the Cahiers d'Art Revue, one of the most significant and longest-standing annual art publications of the last century. In 2026, Cahiers d’Art will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a series of major publications, projects and exhibitions in collaboration with leading global institutions, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the MoMA in New York City and the Musée Picasso in Paris.

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Art direction by Eddie Harrop Studio
Website and Production by Story Ninety-Four
Filmed and recorded by Marque Page Studio