Philanthropist and collector Christian Levett, who opened the Mougins Museum of Classical Art in 2011 in southern France, closed that institution in 2023 and replaced it with Female Artists of the Mougins Museum, reflecting his growing focus on abstraction by women artists. Levett, a former investment manager, now owns around 1,700 works spanning antiquity to contemporary art, with significant holdings in post-war American art, African cutting-edge works, and the Zero movement. He recently bought Françoise Gilot's 1942 painting 'Geneviève Pensive' privately through Christie's and will speak at Tefaf Talks in New York on a panel titled 'Collecting with a Mission for Public Access.'
This interview matters because it offers insight into the collecting philosophy of a major private collector who has shifted from a generalist approach to a focused mission of promoting women artists, a trend reshaping the art market and museum landscape. Levett's emphasis on provenance and story as integral to a work's value, his regret over missing Dorothea Tanning works at auction, and his desire for Joan Mitchell's 'Mon Paysage' and Cecily Brown's 'Figures in a Landscape 2' highlight the interplay between personal passion, market dynamics, and public access in contemporary collecting.