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There is art collecting, and then there is Art Collecting; the latter refers to a tricky game of egos, famous artwork, big money, and carefully crafted market values. But, intensive Art Collecting is not something new to the 21st century. Royal families collected the finest specimens from the furthest edges of their reach. Centuries later, individuals are still intrigued and seduced by buying and owning artwork, but as of late, the indulgent hobbies of royalty have become those of Wall Street banker's, philanthropist's, and entrepreneur's.
Vocational labels aside, some of the collections and collectors mentioned on the list have enhanced the museum-going and art-viewing experience for thousands; others continue to grow and embrace contemporary work and previously-overlooked emerging artists. Each collection exhibits a unique approach to Art that varies in size, price, and focus, as well as origin and purpose.
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Ballin' Art Collectiors You Should Know About
20. Margot L. and Thomas J. Prtizker
20. Margot L. and Thomas J. Pritzker
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Year collection began: 1970s
The Pritzkers look like an outlier within this group, but only because of the artwork they collect. Rather than fawn over modern masters, Thomas Pritzker, the chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, as well as his wife Margot, have accumulated what is recognized as one of the world's best private collections of ancient Tibetan art. Mr. Pritzker's expertise is so refined, that he (in addition to a number of other responsibilities) serves as an adjunct professor at China's Sichuan University, where he publishes scholarly papers on artwork from the Kushan dynasty. Mr. and Mrs. Pritzker's art collection appears only to be a materialization of their true passions, and their dedication to the field of Ancient Tibetan and South Asian art is further proved by Mrs. Pritzker's recent appointment to the Board of Trustees at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
19. Pierre Chen
19. Pierre Chen
Location: Taiwan
Year collection began: Mid-1990s
Chen, the founder of Taiwanese electronics company Yageo, is known for his collection of contemporary and modern artworks, which he has been amassing since the mid-1990s. Chen's collection has work by Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Andreas Gurksy, plus a particular prized work by Gerhard Richter, which has been loaned to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden as a part of the cultural mission of his Yageo Foundation. Apparently, before his focus on the Western art historical canon, he had been collecting modern Chinese painting, specifically from the two decades between 1920 and 1940. Chen continues to accumulate cultural capital by collecting contemporary works from artists working in China and Taiwan such as Lee Minwei and Cai Guo Qiang.
18. Victor Pinchuk
18. Victor Pinchuk
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
Year collection began: Early 1990s
This Ukranian steel magnate began collecting in the early 1990s with a focus on Russian Impressionism. Soon after beginning his collection, he got obsessed with the idea of opening up a public display to showcase the work he had been amassing. At the time, he turned to contemporary art; thinking that it would be more popular to the art-going public. So, in September 2006, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, which is one of the largest public galleries for contemporary art in all of eastern Europe. Among one of Pinchuk's recent acquisitions is Jeff Koons' $24 million Hanging Heart.
17. Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
17. Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
Location: New York
Year collection began: Mid-1960s
The Lauders (yes, of Estée Lauder lineage) boast bragging rights that few, if any others, can ever be permitted; they purchased Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) for $135 million, which at record is the third most expensive painting sold to date. This glittering portrait of Klimt's (ostensibly favored) sitter currently resides at the Neue Galerie (a space which he co-founded and opened in late 2001) in New York among other works from Lauder's amazing collection that spans from Dada collages to Degas sketches, Brancusi sculptures, and one of the best collections of works from Egon Schiele (as well as a handful of pre-1935 Picassos).
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16. Debra and Leon Black
16. Debra and Leon Black
Location: New York
Year collection began: Unknown
The main reason why Debra and Leon Black are on this list is because Leon was the anonymous buyer of Edvard Munch's The Scream, which sold for an astronomical $120 million, after a 12-minute bidding battle in May 2012. Mr. Leon Black sits on the board of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the Museum of Modern Art (where there is a gallery that holds their namesake) in New York, in addition to being considered one of the more powerful Wall Street art collectors. Though he and his wife have been tacked for their affinity for drawings, their collection now ranges from the Old Masters and Impressionists to Chinese sculpture and Brancusi.
15. Bernard Arnault
15. Bernard Arnault
Location: Paris
Year collection began: Unknown
Perhaps more often than not, the biographies of world-class art collectors read as fantasy; Bernard Arnault is most certainly on the list of people who make the rest of the global populace seem like mere mortals. Arnault is currently the head of LVMH, the biggest luxury goods conglomerate in the globe (they own Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne, and other luxury brands). From 1999 until 2003, Arnault was the working owner of the Phillips de Pury & Company auction house, and in 2006, (in the same tune as his rival businessman Francois Pinault), erected the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation. Apparently, a Frank Gehry-designed building will be opening up later this year to house the remainder of Arnault's collection that features typical mega-collection staples such as Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, Henry Moore, and Picasso.
14. Niarchos Family
14. Niarchos Family
Location: Greece
Year collection began: 1949
Some of us dream of getting lucky enough to inherit our multi-millionaire father's art collection like Philip Niarchos. His father, Greek shipping tycoon, Stavros Niarchos, was considered to have the finest and most important private collections of modern and Impressionist art. Since his taking over the collection after his father's death in 1996, Niarchos has added a few worthy trophies: Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait, Jean-Michel Basquiat's Self-Portrait (1982), and Andy Warhol's Red Marilyn. It seems that Niarchos' patronage and gilded relations earned him an "in" with Warhol's 1985 skull portraits, which are culled from Niarchos' CAT scan.
13. Eugenio Lopez Alonso
13. Eugenio Lopez Alonso
Location: Mexico City
Year collection began: 1998
Jumex beverage company heir Eugenio Lopez Alonso, with the guidance of independent curator Patricia Martin, helped to form what is now considered to be the largest private art collection in all of Latin America. The budding collection began in 1998, and in March of 2001 opened its museum-style space to the public, with an aim to present six exhibitions per year. The latest count brings the Coleccion Jumex to about 2,600 works of art, with a focus on many contemporary Mexican artists such as Mario Garciaa Torres and Abraham Cruzvillegas. What's even more exciting is the November 2013 opening of a new 4,000-square-meter, five-storey building meant to house the collection upon its debut.
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12. Rubell Family
12. Rubell Family
Location: Miami
Year collection began: 1964
The Rubell Family Collection was originally established in 1964 in New York shortly after the founders (Donald and Mera) were married. In 1993, the Rubell's collection relocated to Miami, where it resides today. The collections boasts many important works from Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and others. And, as a shocking bonus, the collection has thematically-curated exhibitions for the public and hosts a full-bodied lecture series, research library, and internship program.
11. Carlos Slim
11. Carlos Slim
Location: Mexico City
Year collection began: 1966
Mexican business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and Forbes-ranked richest person in the world (since 2010) is also unsurprisingly a well-respected art collector, because in this day and age, with money, comes art. In 2011, Slim opened the Soumaya Museum (named after his late wife) in Mexico City, a brand new building constructed to house a selection of his 66,000-piece collection. Admission to the museum of his works are free, and Slim noted that one of his main motivations for focusing on collecting works from European masters was to "provide Mexicans who cannot afford to travel with an experience that would otherwise be impossible." It seems that while many art collections are purely self-indulgent, Slim has higher social aims for sharing what he's collected.
10. Dakis Joannou
10. Dakis Joannou
Location: Athens, Greece
Year collection began: Mid-1980s
Greek Cypriot Dakis Joannou is a major collector of European and American contemporary art. In addition to his interest in the latter, he also has a penchant for Italian design from the late 1960s and 1970s, which has grown to become known as the 1968 Furniture Collection and is slated to be published in a future book. Joannou also founded the Athens-based DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art in 1983. His expansive collection ranges from pieces by Janine Antoni to Matthew Barney, Ashley Bickerton, and Marcel Duchamp. In one gallery of the DESTE Foundation, you will find a David Altmejd sculpture sitting in front of two Tom Sachs planes and a portrait of Yves Saint Laurent by Juergen Teller; need we say more?
9. Robert Lehman
9. Robert Lehman
Location: New York
Year collection began: 1911
Robert Lehman, son of Carrie Lauer and Philip Lehman and head of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, most certainly makes the list. The man had a penchant for good investments like businesses, thoroughbred horses, and art. Robert Lehman collected for six decades following the inception of his father's art collection, all the while working as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His was also the first American collection to be given the honor of being displayed as a solo exhibition at the Louvre Museum's Musee de l'Orangerie. After his death in 1969, the Robert Lehman Foundation donated almost 3,000 works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which are now housed in the Robert Lehman Wing.
8. Charles Saatchi
8. Charles Saatchi
Location: London
Year collection began: 1969
The art world would not be the same without Charles Saatchi. He is a predominant British businessman and art collector, and he's credited with the popularization of the Young British Artists (YBAs), that include art-stars such as Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst. At the age of 26, Saatchi bought his first work of art: a modest Sol LeWitt. At one point, the renowned gallerist and collector owned 11 works by Donald Judd, 21 by Sol LeWitt, 17 by Andy Warhol, 27 by Julian Schnabel, and 23 by Anselm Kiefer. If you haven't scoffed in amazement yet, there is nothing more we can do for you.
7. Jose (Yosef) Mugrabi
7. Jose (Yosef) Mugrabi
Location: Zurich and Newark, N.J.
Year collection began: 1992
Born to a Syrian-Jewish family in Jerusalem, Jose (Yosef) Mugrabi moved to Bogota, Colombia at the age of 16, where he eventually became a self-made textile merchant. Jose Mugrabi has one rule at auction: always bid fast and high on the Warhols. Mugrabi has been dubbed the "Man with 800 Warhols" and a "Warhol Warehouser," so it is no surprise that he and his family have made the list. Of Andy Warhol's 8,000 paintings and sculptures, the Mugrabi family owns 800, which is 10 percent of Warhol's entire career. It sounds puny until you realize that you don't really have 800 of...anything. (His art collection also includes several works by Renoir, Picasso, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons.)
6. Herbert and Dorothy Vogel
6. Herbert and Dorothy Vogel
Location: All 50 states in the US
Year collection began: Early 1960s
The Vogels would surely win the Fairytale Prize for their journey to notoriety. As they say on their website: "It all began in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. A world-class contemporary art collection built by a postal clerk and a librarian." And that's exactly how the story goes. They lived a modest, frugal life, collecting minimal and conceptualist artworks that would (in the near future) come to be recognized as some of the most important within the context of the United States' art historical timeline. Their collection eventually grew to over 4,000 works and was eventually transferred to the National Gallery of Art, specifically because they charged no admission fees, and they don't sell their donated work—meaning that, the Vogel collection, could belong to the public. In 2008, in the most exciting installment of their collecting careers, they launched The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States. The title is self-explanatory: the program divvied and donated 2,500 works to 50 institutions across 50 states.
5. Edythe L. and Eli Broad
5. Edythe L. and Eli Broad
Location: Los Angeles
Year collection began: 1973
It is nearly impossible to visit any major art institution (especially in Los Angeles) without running into the Broads. Eli Broad is the founder of KB Home and SunAmerica Inc., which frankly, is much less interesting than his art collection including work by Jean Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and Roy Lichtenstein, that he and his wife have been collecting for decades. What began as a single purchase of a Van Gogh drawing in 1973 eventually turned into the 2010 announcement of a Broad Museum (across the street from the Grand Avenue campus of MOCA, Los Angeles) that would open its doors in 2014 to house their expansive art collection consisting of over 2,000 artworks from over 200 artists.
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4. Nasser David Khalili
Location: UK
Year collection began: 1970
The numbers on this British-Iranian Goodwill Ambassador's collection are astounding. Nasser David Khalili's collection is considered to be the largest in the world, tallying in at a staggering 25,000 works ranging from ceramics to Swedish textiles and Japanese and Islamic art. His collection has been displayed in over 35 museums worldwide. What might be more shocking is that apparently, 93% of his net worth is invested in art. Many artists aren't even 93% invested in their art.
3. Alexandra and Steven A. Cohen
3. Alexandra and Steven A. Cohen
Location: Greenwich, Conn.
Year collection began: 2000
The hedge fund manager-cum-art collector began amassing artwork in 2000, and it only took him two years to rise to a firm (and comfortable spot) in the top 10 most highly-valued private art collections in the world. Cohen reportedly owns over $1 billion worth of artwork, and in recent years has displayed a partiality to contemporary art from Damien Hirs's infamous preserved shark to Marc Quinn's frozen blood bust, Self. Despite his affinity for rather visceral works, Cohen also has a soft spot for more historical trophies from the likes of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.
2. Francois Pinault
2. Francois Pinault
Location: Venice, Italy
Year collection began: Early 1980s
Francois Pinault makes us all look like dilettantes. The man runs the luxury conglomerate PPR (which owns Gucci, Saint-Laurent, and Bottega Veneta, among other high end brands), is the owner of famed auction house Christie's, and reportedly owns more than 2,000 works of art. Portions of his expansive collection are displayed in the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice, Italy. As for the qualification to enter the renowned Pinault collection? "You don't want anything trop aimable—c'est la seduction. There should be no seduction. You need shocks..."
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1. David Geffen
1. David Geffen
Location: Los Angeles
Year collection began: 1979
The world's most expensive private art collection belongs to David Geffen, the entertainment and media magnate, who is apparently a fan of heroic male painters of the midcentury type. His art collection is apparently so good that the man can afford to put up two canonical works at auction: Jackson Pollock's Number 5, 1948 and Willem de Kooning's Woman III. In addition to having the luxury of thinning out his highly regarded collection of a Pollock or two, former chief curator at Los Angeles' MOCA has been noted as saying, "There's no collection that has a better representation of post-war American art than David Geffen's."