At the heart of a major collection: cross perspectives from the Vanhaerents family
Initiated in the mid-1970s by Belgian entrepreneur Walter Vanhaerents, the Vanhaerents Art Collection will in 2027 celebrate twenty years of public presentation. His children, Els and Joost Vanhaerents, tell our Head of Art Banking, Laurent Issaurat, the story of this family enterprise and share what the future holds for what is today one of the most important private contemporary art collections in the world.
Interview conducted by Laurent Issaurat, Head of Art Banking at Société Générale Private Banking.
How did your collection begin?
Joost: Our father was only 18 when he took over the family construction business in Flanders, and for decades poured himself into his work. Then, in the 1970s, he wanted a new focus and took a sudden interest in art, taking us young children to museums and art galleries. The real turning point came in the early 1980s during a trip to Germany and more specific the visit of museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach by architect Hans Hollein. He was fascinated by the works on show in the newly build German museums of the time and discovered works by Joseph Beuys and Gerhardt Richter, among others. Back in Belgium, he decided to “start from scratch”, selling the forty or so works by local artists he had collected up until that point. And so a hobby became a passion: he acquired Warhol as well as post-Warhol works from artists including Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Matt Mullican.
The collection is now a family affair…
Els: We certainly inherited our father’s passion. He encouraged us from a very young age to form our own opinions: whenever we went to an exhibition, he would ask us what our favourite works were and why. Since then, we have grown our collection as a family, without outside advice, and we choose each new work unanimously — or at least by majority.
Joost: Deciding as three people gives us a broader perspective on the art world. One person might pick up an artist the other two overlooked, for instance.
What are your selection criteria?
Els: We choose first and foremost with our hearts and with our eyes. We collect all kinds of media (paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, etc.) and select artists from all over the world. Though, we do give preference to emerging artists, and we are among the first collectors in recent years to acquire Chinese and Japanese artworks and to select works by African and Afro-American Artists (Titus Kaphar, Amoako Boafo, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Dominic Chambers etc.).
How do you share your collection with the public?
Joost: We have always felt that the works are meant to be shared. In 2007 we took the plunge with a 3,500m² space in Brussels where we could store, manage and display the collection. Our father held three exhibitions there in the first ten years.
The decision in 2017 to move all the stored works back to the space led us to rethink and transform the space — and led Els and me to become more involved. To overcome the lack of space, we went with the concept of a “viewing depot” — a kind of hybrid exhibition warehouse where aesthetics and function coalesce to offer visitors an intimate look behind the scenes of the collection. The last ten years were also synonymous with international exposure with our first presentations outside the space itself: the Venice Biennale in 2015, 2019 and 2024, and Le Tripostal ( “Au bout de mes rêves” in collaboration with lille3000) in Lille in 2023.
Els: Looking at the ten years ahead, we plan to turn the building into a platform to display our collection in dialogue with other collections, both public and private. This would give collections without an exhibition space a way to reach new audiences, with the support and fresh eyes of external curators ...which is hugely exciting!
Pictures: ©Joost Vanhaerents, courtesy of Vanhaerents Art Collection
(above) One Minute You’re Here, Friedrich Kunath, 2020–2021, oil on canvas, 244 × 594,5 cm / (middle) Life vest snake, AI Weiwai, 2019 / (right) Modified Social Benche(s), Hein Jeppe, 2008-2026, powder coated aluminium, varying dimensions
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