THE ART OF PARADISE

When your art collection is worth millions, you need somewhere secure, remote and private to enjoy it – ideally an island, where all sense of normal time and place is suspended, allowing for contemplation and no small feeling of pride

- HELEN BARRETT

WHAT do you buy yourself if you already own every mod con and luxury under the sun and money is not an object? Forget expensive cars and yachts – the indulgence that really proves you’re super-wealthy, rather than just merely rich, is a private island to house your art collection. 

Viewers who saw the Netflix movie Glass Onion starring Daniel Craig were intrigued by the stunning island location where fictitious tech mogul Miles Bron stashed away masterpieces worth millions – but in fact “art islands” have been a thing for a while among those who can afford to buy them. 

Russian fertiliser billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is reportedly among those taking their collections offshore. The oligarch and majority owner of AS Monaco Football Club is said to be building a resort on Skorpios, the Greek island that he has owned since 2013, partly to house his many art treasures – at a reported cost of $200 million (R3,6 billion). 

The pleasures of an island gallery – whether secluded or open to the public – are well established among the international art set. 

“When you take the boat and travel to the island, there is something happening in your mind: you are open to new ideas, new thoughts,” says Charles Carmignac whose family collection resides in a villa on the Mediterranean isle of Porquerolles.

“You are not in an agitated mood as you might be when you find yourself in the centre of a city.”