Eli Broad spoke to Bloomberg‘s Scott Reyburn at Art Basel:

“At the fair,” said Broad, “we bought a drawing for an Ed Ruscha painting we have in our Foundation for a fraction of the price it was estimated at in an auction a year ago. It failed to sell.” Silver-haired Broad, wearing a dark-blue blazer and open shirt, was speaking as dealers said more realistic pricing and an emphasis on classic works had generated better-than-expected sales at the preview day.

“We always planned to use our collection as a lending library from which many museums could borrow works and display them,” said Broad. “We don’t want the works to be sitting in a basement and not be seen by the public. We believe in the democratization of art.”

[…] He has a net worth of $5.2 billion, said Forbes in a survey of the world’s billionaires in March. His wealth was down $1.5 billion in six months as AIG stock dropped 98 percent, said Forbes. It valued his collection of contemporary art at $1.5 billion[…] Broad has a private collection of 600 further works “which will end up in the foundation,” he said.[…] “The foundation is still buying works,” said Broad. “For a few years when things were wild, we hardly bought anything at auction. We also went back to buying older pieces.”

Billionaire Broad Says Art Market “Levels Out” After Price Drop (Bloomberg)