For collectors, acquiring art is rarely just about the object in hand—it’s about the context and the connection. Whether they're drawn to emerging voices, historical relevance, or deeply personal narratives, collectors not only shape their own environments with their resources but also the cultural landscape at large.
In CULTURED's weekly Collector Questionnaire, artists, patrons, and lifelong enthusiasts share what compels them to add to their troves of work. Some, like Carol Cole Levin, are focused on legacy-building, ensuring their collections find homes in institutions rather than the market. For Maryam Eisler, it’s all about relationships—the London-based photographer and patron often forms longstanding friendships with the artists she collects. And for an artist like KAWS, a collection serves as a research library, a way to study creative evolution firsthand.
Across perspectives, one thing is clear: Collecting is as much about intuition as it is about scholarship, a dynamic interplay of passion and preservation. Below, a coterie of top collectors reflect on what drives them to seek out, live with, and ultimately champion the art that moves them.
"I am no longer expanding my collection. At this point I’m trying to place it in museums. I have never sold a work from my collection—collecting has always been a part of my own artistic practice. None of the art was purchased as an investment, each piece has a soul, so I am very thoughtful about where they will go."
"This might sound a bit generic, but the primary factor is whether we love the work, the artist’s practice more generally, and whether it relates to other work in our collection. Also critical is whether it can be physically accommodated in our house."
"Firstly, I like to buy what I enjoy both visually and intellectually. I have works by many gay artists, but my collection is not limited by sexuality. I like to support artists I’ve met or those who present ideas or perspectives I find compelling."
"Most importantly, I look for works that offer new perspectives or teach me something I hadn’t known before. When expanding our collection, I consider practical factors like available wall space and budget, as I avoid warehousing art."
"I see my collection as a research library that I can use to investigate artists and works that I am interested in. Sometimes I acquire a work by an artist so that I can study it in relation to other works by that artist––that allows me to see how their processes change over time. For example, Peter Saul is an artist I collect whose work has changed a lot over the years. It’s interesting to look at his works from different eras side by side and see that progression. Owning a work and living with it on your wall is a totally different experience than visiting a museum. You can really see how your relationship with a work changes over time and sometimes things wind up taking on more or less meaning after a while."
"I like to form collections within the collection and give a cohesive feel. Then a collector feels that you're constantly making steps towards finishing a jigsaw and that's very satisfying. Although the jigsaw never gets finished, of course. Aside from that, the technical aspects are creating an emotion of some kind, composition, color, condition, provenance, and price."
"My relationship with the artists is the primary factor when expanding my collection. I invest time in researching and getting to know the creators personally, often forming close friendships with them."
"For me there are three factors when considering the acquisition of an art piece. Do I love it? Can I live with it? Can I afford it? It’s that straightforward."
"I recently inherited some of the pieces from my parents’ collection and that has led to some really interesting pairings across decades and from divergent milieus. When we moved back into our home after the renovation, we placed a Manuel Neri bronze head from my parents next to a Richard Prince joke painting we purchased in 2008. That unexpected pairing has been a high point for me in this latest installation, and it led us to look for other conversations between works from different periods."
"I instantly know if something is meant for me by my gut reaction to it. I don’t waste time. I know exactly what I want or don’t want pretty immediately, which is what has made our collecting process so much fun. We would look at hundreds of pieces and only be drawn to a few—and they were in our home the following week!"
"I have obviously experienced my share of missteps in my journey as a collector. The most notable mistake I made initially was collecting pieces for their visual 'triggers.' Much like falling in love at first sight. This style of collecting may have been emotionally gratifying in the earlier stages of my relationship with the artwork, but I could not stay emotionally invested. I came to enjoy collecting on a much more meaningful level once I began collecting works from artists whose artistic evolution, as a continuous trajectory, resonates with my sensibilities."
