The art world is brimming over with excitement at the news that Charles Saatchi is giving his majestic gallery, which lies off the King’s Road in London, to the British nation. Saatchi is famous for his ability to spot up and coming artists and he has amassed a huge collection over the years. He is said to have virtually founded The Young British Artists movement of the 1990s and has the best of their work displayed in his gallery. Small wonder then that the news he is throwing in at least 200 works of art has been greeted with such excitement. The total value of the gift is believed to be in excess of £25 million.
Amongst the donations are iconic works such as Tracey Emin’s “My Bed” One of the most visited installations ever in the history of the turner prize. Despite the generous nature of the gift Saatchi is very self effacing about it all. He is insisting that the Saatchi Gallery will be renamed the Museum of Contemporary Art. This is unusually coy for a donor. Normally donors insist on embroiling their name with the collection.
So why has he chosen to do things this way. He almost never gives interviews but Rebecca Wilson, associate director of the Saatchi Gallery, spoke for him and his insistence that the gallery be renamed. “He feels after he has left the building, it makes sense for London to have a big museum of contemporary art and that it should be called just that, so that people begin to think of this place as that. He has been very clear about that. He doesn’t want his name attached to it when he retires,”
It truly is a selfless act.
