Piramal Museum of Art : Rise Of The Private Museum

What does an art connoisseur do after building a fine collection? Throw it open to anyone wanting to take a look.

- Pavan Lall

The years preceding his death in 2007 saw Heinz Berggruen either give away or sell for symbolic amounts the works of masters such as Picasso, Matisse, and Klee to museums in Berlin, the city of his birth which he had fled during Nazi rule. “Berlin should shine,” the noted collector said of his decision, which was at once a gesture of reconciliation and a step towards restoring to the German people the artworks to which they had lost access during Nazirule. The collector’s son, Nicolas Berggruen, who sits on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum and the Berggruen Museum, and Sotheby’s international advisory board, says art is acquired by individuals, but it also belongs to a culture. “It is inspiring because it survives down the generations and can be shown and re-shown.”

Going by the rise in the number of private museums over the past decade, India’s business dynasties and serious collectors are thinking on the same lines.But sharing a collection takes more than just the ability to build one. It calls upon an instinct to create a cultural space that will nurture art communities.

Over the past decade, collections confined to residences and summer homes have started to make their way into private museums. The law stipulating that companies spend 2% of their three-year annual average profit on philanthropic activities is expected to offer further impetus to this trend.