Four museums in three countries have announced gifts of more than 350 contemporary artworks from the collection of Dimitris Daskalopoulos.

The collection will be spread among four museums, with 140 going to the Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST); 100 works to be shared between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where Daskalopoulos serves as a trustee, and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and 110 designated for Tate in the UK. The D.Daskalopoulos Collection was started in 1994 and the works are drawn from the artistic practice of recent decades and focus on the human body as a source of creativity and the vessel of existential, social, and ideological struggle. The gift will be accompanied by the creation of a network of curators, including a new dedicated post at Tate, a new shared post at the Guggenheim and MCA Chicago, and also curatorial support to administer and share the gift at EMST.

“I believe that collectors bear a responsibility towards the artworks in their collection and their artists: collectors are beholden to attend to the future of their collection with the same care and attention they invested in creating it,” said Daskalopoulos. “Art takes its meaning and exerts its influence only through its interaction with the public. This has led to my decision to gift the better part of my collection to important contemporary art museums, so that they are cared for and preserved for future generations, so that the works are accessible to a broad audience, and so that they will remain in dialogue with the art of the future. This act transforms a private collection into a public resource.”

(Photo Credit: Getty Images/kevinjeon00)