Laurent Asscher

Investor Laurent Asscher has long been notoriously secretive about his art collection, and to some extent, he still is. During the opening days of the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, there was much to see beyond the main event, including a less publicised selection of pieces from Asscher’s growing collection, on display in the 15th-century Palazzo Molin del Cuoridoro, where Mozart once stayed during a visit to La Serenissima. Guests who arrived in water taxis were able to enjoy works by Anselm Kiefer, Christopher Wool, Cy Twombly, and more.

Around one hundred works in Asscher’s collection include contemporary American artists such as Brice Marden and Richard Serra, one of whose massive sculptures is displayed on the lawn at his residence. Obviously, there are outliers, such as Lucio Fontana and Rudolf Stingel. Asscher tries to go by quality not quantity, which his first acquisition Irony of Negro Policeman (1981) by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which he lent for an exhibition at the Guggenheim Bilbao in 2015, is proof of.

Although Assher has no plans to turn the Palazzo Molin del Cuoridoro into a private museum, he believes that “having a lot of museums and collectors like François Pinault being active in Venice creates an extremely favourable ecosystem”. “Venice is for art what Silicon Valley is for tech”.

Image Source: ART News