Berggruen Institute to Show Art?

Gerhard Richter, "Portrait of Albert Einstein" (1972)

L.A. may be getting another high-profile space for contemporary art. The Financial Times (behind pay wall) reports that Nicholas Berggruen is planning an art space as part of the future Berggruen Institute campus in the Santa Monica mountains.

Ed Ruscha, "War Surplus" (1962)

The Institute, dubbed a "mini-Davos," is a think tank devoted to economics, social policy, and philosophy (with a $1 million annual prize for deep thoughts). Billionaire founder Nicholas Berggruen collects blue-chip contemporary art from the U.S. and Germany. A website reports works by Picasso, Klee, Beuys, Warhol, Ruscha (War Surplus), Baldessari, Polk, and Schütte. At top of post is Gerhard Richter's Portrait of Albert Einstein (1972), which was shown at the Portland Art Museum in 2012. It's Berggruen who put Chris Burden's Metropolis II on long-term loan to LACMA.

Chris Burden, "Metropolis II"

But the FT's Harriet Fitch Little infers that Berggruen is dialing back his commitment to LACMA:

"It is not yet known which institution will provide a permanent home for Berggruen’s collection. Initially, he collaborated closely with Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) CEO Michael Govan on the purchases, telling the Financial Times in 2013 that he had 'made a commitment to one place'.
"Now, Berggruen tells me that while he is still working closely with Lacma (where he is a trustee), his current plan is to split his collection between several institutions, including an art space of his own that he plans to open as part of the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles. The shift hints at the uncertainties museums face when partnering with private collectors: their intentions may change."

The future Berggruen Institute will occupy a 450-acre site in the Sepulveda Pass, west of the 405 and roughly midway between the Getty and Skirball centers (which occupy 110-  and 15-acre sites respectively). Earlier this year Herzog & de Meuron were named as architects.