Buying only artworks that one enjoys living with

THEIR combined salaries were less than US$50,000 a year. But American government employees Dorothy and Herbert Vogel were among the most celebrated art collectors in the world, amassing over 4,782 artworks by important artists such as Donald Judd and Roy Lichtenstein. In stark contrast to other famous art collectors, the Vogels lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment which was filled to the brim with artworks. Most were kept in boxes stacked along the walls, shelved in cupboards, or shoved under their bed.

Their reputation reached mythic, global proportions when Japanese filmmaker Megumi Sasaki decided to train her camera on them and release a film titled Herb & Dorothy in 2008. After Mr Vogel's death last year at the age of 89, Sasaki released another film titled Herb & Dorothy 50x50 that centred on the couple's donation of 50 artworks each to 50 museums in 50 American states.

Next month, Mrs Vogel is coming to Singapore for the screening of the two films and to take part in a panel discussion on art collecting. The event is organised by Platform Projects Singapore, a non-profit organisation supporting contemporary art, and local design studio A Craft Initiative.