“Connecting With Art- An Inside Look Into A Billionaire's Art Collection”

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Keren Blankfeld, Forbes Staff I cover wealth. Usually of the billionaire variety.

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Connecting With Art: An Inside Look Into A Billionaire's Art Collection + Comment now

This story is featured in the latest FORBES 400 issue, newsstand date October 10, 2011.

Once a year the hordes descend on Basel, Switzerland and rock this demure, tidy, quiet city to its ancient foundations. The draw: Art Basel, a five-day fest in mid-June that pulls in 65,000 out-of-towners, some of them very, very dedicated collectors. They come to buy, of course, but also—like the theatergoing lovers of Roman poet Ovid—to see and be seen. But unless you’ve booked a room at a hotel near the city center and made restaurant reservations months in advance, don’t bother to show up.

On the other hand, if you’re lucky enough to piggyback on the itinerary of a billionaire, you might even get a VIP preview of the show: the hottest modern and contemporary works of art for sale, culled from 300 international galleries (1,000 applied this year). My hosts are Norman and Irma Braman, husband and wife, who have been attending Art Basel for half of its 42 years.

Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman made his first fortune retailing vitamins and drugs; today he owns 17 auto dealerships (he sells BMWs, Porsches and Rolls-Royces, as well as Hondas and Mitsubishis) in Florida and Colorado. But an estimated $900 million of his $1.6 billion net worth is tied up in artwork. The fair has been very productive for them, says Norman, 79.

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Over the years they’ve acquired important works by Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Picasso and others. But the key is that they never come with expectations and so never leave disappointed. Art Basel lets them connect with fellow collectors, meet new artists and gallery owners and tune in to the zeitgeist.

First, you’ve got to get into the gray, boxy building on one side of a large square with a central fountain and conference centers and restaurants along the edges. By 10:30 a.m., according to the enormous clock on the entrance, a huge crowd has gathered and pushes forward for the 11 o’clock opening. “Art as a blood sport,” smirks one man. A contact sport, anyway. I pass through a turnstile, not sure where to start, overwhelmed by the maze of gallery booths.

Using the Art Basel iPhone app as a navigation tool, I locate Galerie Krugier, a preappointed spot to meet the Bramans. Norman, white-haired and bespectacled, towers over Irma, who is petite and energetic in a red sweater, slacks and ballerina slippers. Their quarry is a large, muted green and gray Picasso oil, “Femme allongée” (reclining woman).

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Photos: Art Basel 2011

Last year at Art Basel the Bramans bought a Picasso from Galerie Krugier, known for its 19th- and 20th-century works. They’d been scouring the fair with Franck Giraud, their art consigliere, when a couple of sculptures caught their eye. One, a largerthan-life plaster representation of a child, they bought immediately to add to their Picasso collection. The other was a neon work by New York City minimalist Dan Flavin, which they initially put on hold. “We walked away and thought, ‘This is silly, we want it; there’s no reason to put it on hold,’” Irma recalls. Ten minutes later it was theirs. The installation now lights up the entrance to their Miami

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Keren Blankfeld Forbes Staff + Follow

I'm a staff writer at Forbes reporting on wealth. I've spent the past few years investigating and numbercrunching for our signature Forbes 400 and World Billionaires Lists. Along the way, I've written a cover story on Eike Batista, Brazil's richest man, I've interviewed Israeli President Shimon Peres about a billionaire producer who dreams of brokering peace in the Middle East, and agreed to disagree with + show more

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But at the moment, staring at the Picasso painting whose acquaintance they first made from a transparency, they’re wondering how “Femme allongée” would look on one of their walls. “No,” Irma decides. “It’s very flat.” That’s that.

Moving through the galleries, we come across restaurateur Michael Chow, British model Naomi Campbell and Will Ferrell. No one pays them much attention. “That’s beautiful!” exclaims Norman, eyeing a bronze sculpture by Joan Miró. Meanwhile Irma chats with collectors Amalia Dayan (the Israeli general’s granddaughter) and Adam Lindemann, the radio mogul and art collector. Billionaire jeweler Laurence Graff walks by and says hello. While Irma moves on to another painting, Norman backs into a corner and pulls out his cellphone. “What do you think it’s worth?” he asks, apparently speaking with Giraud. “Have you seen anything else? The Picasso doesn’t look as good on the wall.”

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Giraud and the Bramans split up so they can case the galleries and phone one another if something intriguing comes up. Once the head of Christie’s international 19th- and 20th-century art department in New York, Giraud makes an excellent scout. He can often be found at the Swissôtel, just across the square from the fair. It’s the hub of the art network, he says, where everyone gathers after the VIP session to ask breathlessly, “What did you

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buy?!”

The Bramans still haven’t written a check. “This one’s too small; it’ll look lost on the wall,” says Irma as she tilts her head, looking at another Picasso. Then: “This isn’t from [John] Chamberlain’s most desirable period,” she says, referring to his crushed-steel sculptures of the 1950s and 1960s. Norman says he’s on the lookout for a piece by Jackson Pollock; Irma wants one. The Bramans don’t own anything by Francis Bacon or Lucian Freud, even though Norman thinks their work is extraordinary. “They’re very difficult images to live with,” he explains. “And we live with our art.” It helps to have homes in southern France, Aspen and Miami (with a detached gallery).

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The Bramans began collecting in 1979 after falling for sculptures by Alexander Calder and Miró at the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul, in southern France.

They went back five times in two years to see the changing collections. Finally they decided to buy a couple of Calders and began branching out into other artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, enlisting Giraud and Jeffrey Deitch, director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, for advice. Over the years Braman has become so immersed in the art scene that he helped set up Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002, a sister to the Swiss fair.

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