Regrets, they’ve had a few: Top 200 collectors reflect on the ones that got away

ARTNEWS
By Maximilíano Durón and Alex Greenberger

Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz in front of Sterling Ruby’s Burning Landscape, 2016. CARLOS AND ROSA DE LA CRUZ

For every sought-after work in a gallery or bidding war at auction, there’s a winner: the collector who walks away with the work. The art world has often maintained an aura of secrecy around who might have acquired hotly contested offerings, with news passed down through the grapevine before it gets reported (if it gets reported at all). Over the summer, we asked everyone on the ARTnews “Top 200 Collectors” list if there was ever an artwork that slipped through their hands—one that got away. The answers were revealing. Some collectors recalled works that still haunt them years later, while others mentioned works they passed over because the timing just wasn’t quite right.  [More]