Confessions of an Art Collector or The Best Way to be Happy

Found Poem #15: Confessions of an Art Collector or The Best Way to be Happy

While recovering
From an attack of scarlet fever
As an adolescent,
Giuseppe Panza began reading art books
Intently.

To understand new art was like
Discovering a new theory in physics,
Or a new celestial body. It was
Born of this same desire:
To know the unknown.

At the beginning
My aim was to collect
100 beautiful paintings.

Soon I had those paintings
But I could not stop
Because my desire to
Have what I liked
Was too strong.

Giuseppe often seized upon
Little-known artists
Who would later attain
Blue-chip status
And command astronomical prices:

Dan Flavin,
Donald Judd,
Mark Rothko,
Philip Guston,
Claes Oldenburg,
Robert Rauchenberg,
Roy Lichtenstein,
Carl Andre,
Richard Serra,
Bruce Nauman,
Sol Lewitt —

Collecting art
Is a necessity for me
Because everybody wants to be happy,
And I found the best way to be happy.

Source: William Grimes’s obituary of Giuseppe Panza in the New York Times, May 2, 2010