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A show at any of Gagosian's influential galleries—three in New York, two in London, one in L.A., and one in Rome—is the flashing neon announcement that an artist has made it. (When he poached painter-of-the-moment John Currin, Gagosian reportedly added another digit to Currin’s prices.) In his elegant Madison Ave. space, he’s shown the latest works of Cy Twombly, and a superb exhibit of Picasso’s sculptures. In 2000, Gagosian branched out and inaugurated a vast, cathedral-like warehouse space in Chelsea with a massive steel installation by Richard Serra, followed by a stern Anselm Kiefer show of steel bookcases filled with lead books and sunflowers and grit-studded canvases. His 2000 Damien Hirst exhibit is legendary as one of the most extravagantly produced shows in recent history, with a three-story-high anatomical model and an ob-gyn examination chair sunken in a fish tank. And the museum-quality show of De Kooning paintings was a stunner, proving Gagosian one of the very few galleries capable of competing with museums. — Alex Mar