The Medici of Los Angeles -- The Collectors Eli and Edythe Broad

CHRISTIES
By Michael Watts and Roger Davies

Eli and Edythe Broad at their home, with Robert Rauschenberg, "Untitled," (1954). Portrait by Roger Davies courtesy of Architectural Digest © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation/DACS, London/VAGA, New York

CALIFORNIA---Eli Broad and his wife Edythe started buying art because ‘life is richer when you live it among the dreamers’. They have focused on artists from their own time, whom they try to get to know and understand. That is how you build a great collection, they contend. Eli and Edye have spent decades investigating auctions, galleries and studios, researching and interrogating artists, and visiting international art fairs where a hound dog may pick up a juicy bone. All the time, their collection grew, spilling out from the three homes they own, until there were 2,000 artworks filling five warehouses; and then they knew that they must have their own building and open up their art to the people of Los Angeles. [link]

"The Kingdom of the Father" (2007) by Damien Hirst. Butterflies and household gloss on three canvas panels. Courtesy The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica © 2012 Hirst Holdings Limited and Damien Hirst. All rights reserved, ARS, New York/DACS LondonPhoto credit: Randy Boverman, Portland