No Bare Walls

With the start of a new art season upon us after Labor Day, we're gearing back up for the auction and art fair shopping sprees.

This got us thinking: Just how many pieces are in the collections of acquisitive patrons of the arts?

The Broad Art Foundation, made up of pieces from the collection of Edythe and Eli Broad, holds 1,400 pieces, 570 of which were bought in one year alone (2006). The Broads have an addition 400 works of art in their private holdings.

Marieluise Hessel's collection, which is exhibited at Bard College, includes 1,780 artworks.

Charles Saatchi's collection tops 2,000 pieces.

François Pinault's collection holds 2,500 - 3,000 pieces. The former Venetian customs house he recently acquired after a battle with the Guggenheim will house most of these.

And there are 6,000 works--some 20,000 objects, when you break down installations with multiple parts--in the Rubell Family Collection.

Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art told us they didn't have a figure because the collection is still growing (i.e. she's still buying).

In art-world parlance, this is called having caught the collector's bug. In less precious arenas of commerce, it's called a shopping addiction.