We maintain a very strict policy for acquisitions, which affects acquisitions in the antiquities area. We absolutely intend to continue to acquire, while respecting the requirements of provenance. I have no reason to think we won’t. We’re intent on collecting major works that meet our acquisition requirements. We’re trying to do a number of things.

What is your take on the current status of the art market
as a whole? Is it overvalued?

I would say overpriced. Truly great works of art are both valueless and priceless. It’s a matter of supply and demand at any given moment. That doesn’t bother me. I’m concerned a bit for collectors and many institutions in what I would call overpriced areas—areas where people buy for a variety of different reasons. Some buy for investment, some buy out of passion for the object. A lot of status comes from buying certain works, and a number of strange motivations determine prices. Museums need to think long term and rationally, and not get caught up in the frenzy. I’m always suspicious of investors collecting art.

But aren’t all collectors, to a certain extent, investors as well?

I’m very sympathetic to an art collector who really worries about making a disastrous investment, particularly if his means are very limited. There are other individuals who simply buy to play the market and get out at the right time. That’s not collecting; that’s investing.

What, then, makes a true collector?

A person who buys out of passion by learning and looking. This person asks for advice, visits museums and, in the end, makes up his own mind.

Collecting is a process, and anything you buy must ultimately move you as a work of art. If you look at 10 works and you buy one, that’s pretty good. If you look at 100 works and you buy one, that’s even better. Then you really get into connoisseurship. I can’t guarantee that piece will become more valuable, but I would put odds on it being a better work of art, one you’ll get more pleasure out of. If you are lucky, it might hold its value and increase in the long run.

There are great fortunes being made in China, India
and other developing nations. What impact will these
emerging wealth centers have on the international
art market?

People buy art for a number of reasons, but one is to affirm their own culture and their own sense of identity. Currently, the Chinese set auction records for Chinese art. It gets more complicated with contemporary art. Now there is a cachet in being a collector of contemporary art. That’s not bad, but it isn’t necessarily good either. There are some collectors whom art seduces—or perhaps this international market legitimately fascinates them. If you make your money globally, there is almost an inevitable desire to compete globally with these other contemporary collectors. There is nothing wrong with that, but I would question if a museum should pay those same prices for contemporary artists. Whatever the Getty buys is for the long, long run.

How is the Getty going to compete with private collectors and auction houses in the global market?

It depends on the objects. Many areas of art exist that are not particularly popular with private collectors. Auction houses are a reflection of private buyers and some institutional buyers, obviously. There are still areas where you don’t want to go head-to-head with a private collector. They have a motivation to buy, which would make it irrational even if you had the money. I think we are a pretty rational group.

Would the Getty ever sell any of its own collection?

It has. Just recently, we did some housecleaning. There were several paintings we had not shown in years. The sale raised a meaningful, but not large, amount of money. However, we are not in the business of buying something and then trying to time the market to double our money. We are collectors, primarily. Not a business.