Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Thomas Kaplan’s Leiden Collection in Moscow

April 16, 2018 by Marion Maneker

The Moscow Times has an interesting interview with natural resources investor Thomas Kaplan who has spent a number of years amassing a collection of Dutch old master paintings including the only Vermeer in private hands and the largest collection of Rembrandts in private hands.

Kaplan was first an anonymous collector. Eventually, the collection began to tour under the Leiden name:

Where do the paintings stay between the exhibitions?

We’ve never lived with even one of our paintings. In the very beginning of our collecting we realized that the art was too important to be kept to ourselves. We have lent it out 170 times to more than 40 museums around the world. Until very recently we were “anonymous collectors.” The collection is not named after ourselves — it’s named after Rembrandt’s birthplace. And that’s the way we wanted it.

Have you had cases when people tried to sell you fake Rembrandts? 

I’ve actually had cases when people tried to sell me Rembrandts I already owned! They weren’t fake, but they didn’t know that I already bought them. There had been times when people tried to sell us paintings that were not by the artists that they claimed to be. Most of the time I don’t believe that they were being dishonest; they just didn’t understand that what they owned was not by Rembrandt. I actually think that with the old masters it’s easier to buy something that can be confirmed to be real than with modern art. There are more fakes in modern art than there are in old masters.

The Man Behind the Leiden Collection (The Moscow Times)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • ABMB Salon: In the Age of VolatilityABMB Salon: In the Age of Volatility
  • Zwirner Announces Hong Kong Team Launching in JanuaryZwirner Announces Hong Kong Team Launching in January
  • Zao Wou-Ki, Sanyu Dominate Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary 2020 Sales: AnalysisZao Wou-Ki, Sanyu Dominate Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary 2020 Sales: Analysis
  • John Howard’s Amended Knoedler ComplaintJohn Howard’s Amended Knoedler Complaint
  • Sotheby’s HK Ullens Sale, Pt. 2 = HK$132.4m ($17m)Sotheby’s HK Ullens Sale, Pt. 2 = HK$132.4m ($17m)
  • Television Art Auctions Were FraudTelevision Art Auctions Were Fraud

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Sotheby's Evening Cont. Sale, London
  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Re-discovered John Constable Painting at Sotheby's in December
  • Podcast
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor