While a plurality of the collections that comprise this guide have been assembled by successful players in the world of business, artists too have long found themselves caught by the collecting bug. The Venet Foundation, as French conceptual artist Bernar Venet’s property in the Provence’s Le Muy is now called, which just opened in the summer of 2014. But, the project has been over 25 years in the making. The site was developed in conversation with minimalist master and founder of Marfa, Texas Donald Judd. It features a chapel designed by Frank Stella, numerous large pieces by Venet himself, and holds around 100 works by fellow postwar and contemporary art giants: Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Jean Tinguely, On Kawara, and Dan Flavin among them. The collection is an extremely personal one, with Venet often trading his own works for those on view after moving to New York in 1966 and falling in with this group of artists who shaped conceptual art practice as we know it.

Alexander Forbes is a New York based art writer and critic, currently serving as Artsy’s News Editor. Prior to relocating to New York, Alexander was based in Berlin as the European Editor for artnet and German Bureau Chief for Louise Blouin Media.

All images courtesy Bernar Venet Archives, New York

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