Institutional collections

What are institutional collections?

They are art collections built and managed over the long term by major institutions. We are talking about houses such as the Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern and MoMA, and here at home the National Gallery or GHMP. A work that enters such a collection passes from the hands of a private collector into the care of an institution that preserves, researches and exhibits it.

How do institutional collections work, and why do they matter so much?

An institution does not buy or accept works at random but selects them according to its scholarly concept, so every acquisition is in effect a curatorial decision. Precisely for that reason, acceptance into a major collection is taken as a seal of quality — a professional confirmation that an artist belongs to the history of art. It is no wonder the market takes note.

How do institutional collections affect the value of a work or an artist's career?

Acquisition into the collection of a major institution is usually a marked impulse for an artist's market value too. Collectors know that an artist whose work hangs in Tate or the National Gallery gains public recognition and historical weight, and that feeds through into interest and prices. Such an acquisition gives a career a credibility that money cannot buy.

Can you give an example?

Imagine an artist whose painting is bought for the collection of the Centre Pompidou or Prague's GHMP. From that moment people talk about them differently, their name appears in scholarly catalogues and in exhibitions alongside established classics. And when their next work then comes onto the market, collectors know they are backing a safe bet.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club