ArtTour International Magazine
Jim Fitzpatrick
The Princes of Lichtenstein
Over the course of more than 400 years, the family has treasured and collected art, amassing one of the world’s most important and extensive private collections—the Princely Collections. It contains 1,600 prominent European artworks from the 14th to the 19th century. Containing masterpieces by Raphael, Rembrandt, Hals, and Van Dyck, among countless others, the breadth and depth of the Collections make it almost impossible to fathom. But, perhaps, its connections to the work of Peter Paul Rubens can suffice, the first of which the family bought in 1643. Later, it added his cycle of eight canvases, The Decius Mus Cycle, the only cycle of its kind currently in private hands. Among the other Ruben masterpieces are “Clara Serena” and “The Assumption of the Virgin.” When the family tradition of the public exhibition was broken by the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, which forced the collections underground for safety, there they would remain until 2004, when reigning prince H.S.H Hans-Adam II led the effort to renovate one of their Viennese palaces into a public gallery. His efforts have further ensured the continued refinement and expansion of the Princely Collections, securing its prominence in the present and opening it up to future possibilities.
Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova
A Russian-Israeli businessman perhaps most famous as the owner of the football club Chelsea F.C., Abramovich entered the international art scene in 20052006, with his sponsorship of Russian photography at the Somerset House in London and with his auction purchases of Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping and Francis Bacon’s “Triptych.” During this time, he also began his relationship with Zhukova, the co-founder of the fashion label Kova & T. The couple married in secret in 2008, the same year revealing the joint venture Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (now, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art). Permanently installed in Gorky Park, after a stint at the renovated Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, the nonprofit organization committed itself to advancing contemporary art through research, education, events, and exhibitions both on-site and off. The couple continued adding to their collection, perhaps most notably with about 40 works by Ilya Kabakov. Though the couple split in 2017, they have continued their prominence in the international art scene both jointly and individually. Abramovich most recently made news with his $120-million-dollar acquisition of Edward Munch’s “Incognito” in May 2020, while Zhukova continues to serve as the editor-in-chief of GARAGE magazine and as a board member for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Shed.