In the past, those wealthy enough to be able to afford classical art masterpieces held onto them as tight as possible. A display of money, power and sophistication, only their elite visitors (and some staff) were lucky enough to feast their eyes on the expensive paintings adorning a high-brow's home.
But it seems all that is changing. According to financial services giant, Morgan Stanley, more and more people are choosing to share their classical art with the masses. They're doing this by opening up private contemporary art museums across the world.
"Fuelling the upturn in private museums is the enormous wealth and influence of a select group of ultra-affluent international art patrons—from billionaire Russian oligarchs, Asian businessmen and Australian philanthropists through to newly cashed up tech founders and innovators," reports Morgan Stanley.
Many experts believe this is a good thing because public galleries don't always have the funds to secure the caliber of art that a well-connected billionaire might have. And what's more, a lot of these private art museums are offering free entry to the public.
According to Dr. Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist specializing in the arts, antiques and collectibles markets, an estimated $3 trillion of art is housed in private collections throughout the world.
"Consider the situation of a private art collector with a huge collection that has grown to surpass the wall and/or exhibition space in their private residence(s)," says the Morgan Stanley team. "If that collector establishes a private art museum, the public has access to artworks they may not have seen otherwise, and which may have been valued at a price well outside the decreasing budget margins of any public gallery."
So who are these wealthy men and women buying up the world's most wanted art masterpieces? Well, one of them goes by the name Steve Cohen. The American businessman has amassed artworks worth a cool 1 billion dollars.
Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, have reportedly been collecting art since 2000. Their impressive collection has included paintings from the likes of Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, and Jackson Pollock.
“I am purely from the gut. And I know right away,” Cohen once told Fortune. “If it stays in my brain—let’s say I go see a picture, if I keep thinking about it, I know it’s something I like. If I forget about it, then I know, couldn’t care less.”
Cohen and his wife are apparently not stingy with their collection. "The Cohens have donated to museums, including the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art, El Museo del Barrio, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," reports the Masterworks site. "In 2017, they donated $50 million to expand the Museum of Modern Art."
Another avid art collector with lots of money to spend is French billionaire François Pinault. He's bought more than 10,000 artworks in the last 50 years. His extensive collection is reportedly worth more than 1.2 billion dollars. And he too is happy to share his beloved art with others.
Pinault regularly loans artworks to museums and has pioneered artist residency programs, as well as annual art prizes.
"Unlike many art collections or pieces that are kept in the dark, the Pinault collection can be enjoyed in its new and beautiful home at the Bourse de Commerce, a stunning relic of architecture that has gone through significant repairs and metamorphoses, thanks to visionary architect Tadao Ando’s work on the building from 2017 to its completion in 2020," the Masterworks site reports.
