Art collectors often feel an overwhelming need to share the works that are in their collections. Many of them establish relationships with museums with whom they have a special complicity in transferring part of their collections on deposit, and even end up donating specific works or entire collections. On the contrary, other collectors decide to open their own spaces with the aim of bringing art closer to all citizens. All paths are valid when there is this purpose behind it, and these collectors become cultural icons, inspiring other collectors like them.
There is not much information about these private collectors' museums. Beyond a very few publications, Larry's List, a company that provides knowledge to contemporary collectors, has made an effort to document what happens globally with these "museums". Already in 2016, he published a first report where he mapped and analyzed them, denouncing a certain lack of transparency. It has recently published a second report where it values its extensive database and the knowledge that the Department of Sociology of the University of Amsterdam has shared with them, which is very dedicated to this topic.
There is no single criteria to determine what a private museum is, since these are far from what was agreed in the International Council of Museums (ICOM) on what technically a museum was, but there is unanimity in understanding that its financing must come from a individual, family or company and not from public funds, must have a permanent collection accessible to the public and be in a physical space.
With all this, the report provides interesting data: on a global universe of 446 private museums, half of them are in Europe, the result of our long tradition of collecting. Germany is the country that hosts the most (60), followed by the United States (59), South Korea (50), China and Italy (30) and Spain (21). They have had enormous growth in the last two decades, since 82% of them were founded after 2000.
Legally, half of them are foundations, a third do not charge admission and half have less than 500 works. Only 29% have more than 1,500 pieces. There is still a lot of information to put together, but its relevance in the artistic ecosystem is paramount.
