Everyone has a hobby of some sort and these celebrity art collections are thought-provoking, fantastical and expensive.
When money’s no object, surrounding yourself with your own art collection can be relaxing as well as letting your imagination soar. Even make you forget about that troublesome co-star on the set.
Leonardo DiCaprio
We’ll start with the guy who was named after a famous artist. Leonardo. It was in the Uffizi Gallery, standing in front of Da Vinci’s work that DiCaprio’s parents decided to name him Leonardo.
He also says The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, hung above his crib, which is amazing how even-keeled Mr. DiCaprio turned out considering the surreal nature of THAT artwork.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been attending auctions and art fairs from New York to Miami and I’d hate to be the guy facing off against him at these venues.
I have a feeling these A-Listers have that winning gene in their DNA and the deepness of my pockets is well within the visible spectrum.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s collection includes Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Ruscha, Todd Schorr, and Mark Ryden, along with the works by Oscar Murillo, Salvador Dali, and Takashi Murakami.
Leo spends so much time now with his philanthropic causes making this a better world we’re glad he has this art to enjoy on his downtime.
Jay-Z and Beyonce
When Jay-Z and Beyonce aren’t busy creating their own art or endorsing products, these pop stars are a regular fixture on the art fair circuit. It was Beyonce who influenced her husband to start collecting, who has come full circle with the same established eye for art as Beyonce.
Regarding artist David Hammons, Jay-Z states “I try to buy things that resonate with me … David Hammons has made a huge painting with bricks on the bottom which reminds me of the projects, where I come from.”
This celebrity art collection is top-notch when it comes to name dropping. The two own works by Andy Warhol, Richard Prince, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Tim Noble, and Sue Webster, David Hammons, George Condo, Paul Pfeiffer Laurie Simmons, and Ed Ruscha.
The couple has been spotted numerous times at Art Basel Miami, and as you might have heard, there was quite the debacle with a banana taped to a wall as art this year in Miami.
In 2013, they purchased a work by street artist Hebru Brantley. We like Hebru’s message on his apparel, “Buy art, not drugs.”
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian
Oh, this is just great. Now there’s one more thing we have to keep up with – first their beauty products and now their art collection.
Needless to say, Kanye and Kim gravitate towards artwork that looks good on album covers and they seem to favor Takashi Murakami.
Kanye has also commissioned George Condo to create album art and even had the artist’s hand paint an Hermès Birkin bag for his wife Kim Kardashian.
Kanye also swings the pendulum completely around with his line of jewelry influenced by the work of classical 14th-century Florentine artists Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, as well as Lorenzo Ghiberti.
The rapper also gifted light and space artist James Turrell US$10 million for his Roden Crater project.
Located in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona, this is an unprecedented large-scale artwork created within a volcanic cinder cone. Now that’s the eccentric impulsiveness we all love to see in our celebrities.
If large scale art appeals to you, then you don’t want to miss these amazing landscape and crop art you can only appreciate from the sky!
Madonna
The Material Girl’s art collection crests US$100 million, favoring nude photography, art deco, and female artists. In fact, two of her faves are Frida Kahlo and Tamara de Lempicka.
A photographic tour of Madonna’s New York apartment also revealed holdings by Man Ray, Diego Rivera, and Salvator Dali; she also owns Fernand Léger’s Les Deux Bicyclettes, Picasso’s Buste de Femme a la Frange, and is a fan of guerrilla street artists Banksy and JR.
We already know that Madonna once possessed several works by Basquiat (which were eventually destroyed by the artist) and is the proud owner of one of only five paintings Frida Kahlo created during her time in Detroit.
Sir Elton John
Sir Elton John and his life partner, film producer David Furnish, are known as savvy collectors of contemporary art.
All of their homes are centered around art. Celebrity art collections come in many mediums, and Sir Elton John owns one of the leading private photography collections in the world.
It is renowned for early Modernist and Surrealist works and its in-depth representation of pivotal photographers such as Man Ray and Irving Penn. The collection now holds over 4,000 fine art photographs.
John has been collecting since the early 1990s, and as the upcoming sale of his painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol is apt to remind us, photographs are just the beginning for the singer.
Counting Damien Hirst and Ai Weiwei among his friends, the Rocket Man isn’t shy about his collection. His catalog of paintings, sculptures, and glassworks, among other art objects, is so extensive that a special curator manages the archive.
“You must understand that I live with my art collection,” John explained in a 2015 interview with online auctioneer Paddle 8. His full-time curator, Newell Harbin, is responsible for giving him tips on how to invest wisely.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish also own pieces by Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Philip Taaffe.
Man Ray “Glass Tears” 1932
