My Masterpiece Selection: Anita Zabludowicz

To coincide with the opening of Masterpiece London, we asked Anita Zabludowicz, philanthropist and co-founder of the Zabludowicz Collection, to pick out some of her favourite masterpieces

I adore Mornington Crescent, a painting from 1966 by Frank Auerbach. I love the intensity of the artist returning to paint the same location over and over again. This version has very vivid yellows and reds and it makes me happy every time I see it. And every time, I see it afresh – as I imagine Auerbach does every time he looks at that intersection of roads.

Mornington Crescent with Statue of Sickert’s Father-in-Law III, Summer Morning (1966), Frank Auerbach © Frank Auerbach, courtesy of Marlborough Fine Art, London

My all-time favourite work of art is Large Field Array by Keith Tyson. It is a single work, comprising 300 sculptures that represent the life of an artist and the universe.

LFA-Pace-New-York-install-view-3-Keith-Tyson Installation view of ‘Large Field Array’ by Keith Tyson at The Pace Gallery in London, 2007 Photo: The Pace Gallery © Keith Tyson

Alvar Aalto is my favourite furniture designer because of the connection of his work to nature. His shapes are simple and pure. Usually he uses wood and is faithful to the material and its characteristics, but he always manages to create purity and beauty without being fragile.

Armchair 41 (1932), Alvar Aalto Photo: © Artek

After nine years and 70 projects, the bar remains high for my own art space, the Zabludowicz Collection. We are always extending our practice and how we think. We are steps ahead of the art world and have a huge freedom to experiment. The team and I, and our faithful and ever-growing audiences, are very privileged.

I am hugely involved in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and have been since its inception. I am a trustee of the charity that is linked to the future of the park and its development, and through it we hope to shape a better London. We are building a whole new city from the park outwards!

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. Photo: LLDC

My ultimate masterpiece is the home that I have lived in for 15 years. I built it from scratch with my husband and it has been everything and more that one could ask for in a home. We worked with architect Stephen Marshall (from what was then Munkenbeck and Marshall), and also with an interior architect called Giancarlo Alhadeff. We have also had a long friendship with Jean-Pierre Tortil, who helped us design the interior. It was a huge labour of love and we still find it wonderful to live in all these years later. I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

This article was originally published in the Masterpiece London magazine 2015.

Masterpiece London takes place in the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, from 25 June–1 July.

Highlights of Masterpiece London 

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