Art Collection
I started my art collection at age 12 or 13 by hiring an artist to paint two paintings for my bedroom. In the intervening years, these have disappeared--too many moves. However, that was the start of a collection that today has grown to approximaely 7,000 pices. That include about 3,000 of my own works, but the rest are works I have chosen because of their emotional effect upon me.
In the year 2000, I visited Ponce, Puerto Rico and entered an art museum that was the collection of one man. He was apparently a successful sugar grower with an interest in art. I recall being enthralled by the works--most were simply great works chosen for their emotional effect on the man. It was one of the finest art museums I have ever visited.
In comparison, one of the worst collections, and one that has apparently influenced the local SF Museum of Modern Art to expand, is the so-called "Anderson Collection," which consists in my opinion of the worst of the best. It is the product of money and hired art buyers and has no emotional appeal--none to me. This is another tragedy of the effect of having too much money; knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing!
I think that my collection is one of the best and not only because it is my own, but because I tried to collect deeply: I attempted to gather as many works from a given artist as I was able to afford. In this way I directly studied the artist's life and apparent influences.