Simone Klein is an independent photography specialist, appraiser, art advisor, curator, and writer based in Cologne, Germany.

With 30 years of experience in the international art market, Simone has developed profound expertise and long-standing collaborations with major international institutions and prominent private collections in the fields of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary photography.

She is publicly sworn and appointed expert at the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce, field of expertise Photographs 19th - 21st centuries.

Educated in France and Germany with master degrees in Art History at the Sorbonne Paris and the University of Bonn, Simone has consecutively worked for Rudolf Kicken Gallery, Lempertz Auctioneers Cologne as Director of the Photographs Department, Sotheby’s London and Paris as Head of the Photographs Department Europe, at Magnum Photos in Paris as their Global Sales Director and at Artnet Auctions as Senior International Specialist, Photographs.

She is a member of the curatorial committee of Photo London as well as a nominator for the Prix Pictet and The Leica Oscar Barnack Award (LOBA), director of the jury to the Felix Schoeller Photo Award, and lectures at the Donau University in Krems, Austria.

Simone is member of the German Photographic Society (DGPh e.V.) and the Association of Independent Art Experts and Appraisers  (VUKS e.V.).