Dani Levinas presented the English version of his book in Washington Guardians of the Arts (La Fábrica) accompanied by the Director and CEO of Phillips Collection. Jonathan P. Bienstock. What better place to talk about collectors than this wonderful institution in Washington, DC, where the legacy of a distinguished collector is on display? Duncan Phillips, whose clinical eye and some capital enabled him to bring together a superb collection of the best paintings of his time. Levinas’s visit to the Phillips collection was like a university student returning to his Alma materbecause Levinas until recently was the chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, and today he holds an honorary position.

Whatever passion Levinas has for collecting art is now focused on his latest collection of collectors.

The presentation was a festival of insightful anecdotes because Levinas is not only a great collector himself, but also a great oral storyteller, and in front of a full and devoted audience he presented this fantastic book of interviews with collectors from all over the world. . So, we discovered that, in addition to the hobby that gives them their name, collectors have one more thing in common: passion. And also, like Levinas himself, a curious fact: almost all of them were introduced to the world of art by their mothers, who, you see, play a major role in art. We were able to study the boundaries that separate the collector (passion, always passion) from the buyer, and within the buyer – from a simple investor – speculator, as you can also call it. Although you can start as a buyer and end up as an avid collector, some may not: we already know that the ways of the Lord are mysterious.

In the presentation of the eye, this eye that every collector should treasure, much was said about whether this eye could be educated or not, and how, in the end, a collector is a person like Phillips, capable of being ahead of his time and perceive, in the midst of most of today, how long tomorrow will last. And that is why there is something irrational about these art guardians whom Levinas interviewed. That irrationality that passion seeks, because it is bought not with the head, but with the heart. A person, of course, informs himself, he documents himself, of course, but then intuition rules, it is passion that drives the wheel, and it is this passion that makes these very diverse lives exciting, which are also collectible, and that’s all. Dedicated to Levinas.

The same passion that Levinas has for collecting art is now focused on his latest collection: his collectors’ collection. With the same clinical eye of Duncan Phillips, the same look that he had and still has on art, he now turns his gaze to the collectors themselves, carefully selecting the most interesting, looking among them for the most curious and those who will be the last. And he continues, of course, he continues, do not think that with the publication of his book this collector’s hunt has in no way ended; in truth, it has only just begun. He already warned us Susan Sontag in his novel Volcano lover: “The need of a collector gravitates precisely towards excess, towards satiety, towards abundance. This is too much… The one who hesitates, who asks. Do I need this? Is it really necessary? – not a collector. A collection is always more than it would be necessary”.

At the end of the presentation, as Levinas signed the books in front of a long line of convinced people who waited patiently with their copies in their hands, one was left wanting more, as one does when a book is finished, but with peace of mind. knowing that since this passion has not ended, there will be more, this is only the first volume of these Guardians, that the keeper of custodians will continue to gather collectors and, fortunately for us, introduce them, share – as Duncan Phillips opened his collection to the public – his new treasures. And I don’t know if it will be necessary, but it will certainly be wonderful, he will have a great time, and so will we.

Miguel Albero He is the Cultural Advisor to the Spanish Embassy in the United States.