The Start of My "Art" Collection
Summer Tip 2: When We See Us At Kunstmuseum Basel
“Are you an art collector yourself?”
I often get that question, and it always makes me smile… :)
It makes me smile because it takes me back to "little Emily" at 16, a girl who wandered through museums with wide eyes, utterly amazed by the stunning contemporary masterpieces surrounding her. A young woman who knew all too well:
I can’t buy this, I can’t buy this feeling, and I’ll never have this work in my living room...
But you know what? I started building my own art collection with my pocket money: my own “art collection” of art postcards! Fast forward +/- 15 years, and now my “postart” collection has grown to around 500 pieces! It’s starting to get a bit out of hand, hahaha.
Besides the postcards, I’m also a modest beginner art collector. I’m proud that with the purchases I’ve made, I’ve supported several young artists in the beginning of their carreers. That’s something 16-year-old Emily could never have imagined :)
It also makes me happy that I've proven myself wrong: I can buy art and have art in my home that deeply moves and inspires me!
When We See Us
The last postcard I bought was at the Kunstmuseum Basel, where the beautiful exhibition When We See Us is currently on display.
When We See Us delves into the diverse and profound ways Black artists have portrayed the Black experience and identity over time.
“The exhibition’s title is inspired by the 2019 Netflix miniseries When They See Us -…-, which focuses on how Black youth are seen as potential criminals and thus as a threat. Replacing “they” with “we” in the title indicates the crucial perspectival shift: The works on show bring into focus the artists’ lived realities as subject of their own art.”
(Kunstmuseum Basel, 2024)
This exhibition features works by various renowned artists, including powerful paintings of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (b. 1977).
I stood in front of this work for almost 15 minutes. It was immense, making me feel small again. I couldn’t resist the voice of 16-year-old Emily and, of course, bought several postcards in the museum shop. The exhibition runs until October 2024.
Do you consider yourself a collector? I’m very curious if there are other readers who collect and cherish things :) Let me know in the comments!
See you next week,
Emily xx
I love this! One of my favourite pieces in my living room is a framed post card that I picked up in Italy and it has such lovely memories attached to it. I'm all for affordable art collections!
fun! how do you display your postcard collection?