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themoment (interfaces, energy, format, etc). For this reason I believe, and I think that formany other people this is true, that theprinteddocument is andwill be a reality for a long time. Behind your collection I imagine that there is a formidable ideological framework When I acquire awork I do somainly dependingonmy personal tastes, impulses, state ofmind,memories and the knowledge earned through reading, contact with artists and thedirect experience gained inmuseums, galleries, biennials and art fairs. As I have justmentioned, I take specialist advice onboard to completemy collections so that they includedifferent styles andmovements,Western and Eastern, from the 14th century to themodernday. I don’t search for works basedon economic references ormarket trends asmy aim is not to speculatewithor earnmoney frommy art.My aim is to strengthen the collectionout of thepleasure and knowledge they bringme, aswell as the commitment I have topreserve, promote and spread art. Does the enjoyment of art in company, sharing the experience, intensify thepleasure? Quitedefinitively, yes, sharing your encounter with art intensifies the enjoyment of it. I think that wemiss out on a lot whenworks are kept in long periods in security vaults, on the walls of houses or inmuseum storage. For this reason I have instructed the JAPSFoundation and JuntosActuandopor laSuperación, A.C. – both institutions I have founded in Spain andMexico, respectively – to accept proposals and requests from variousmuseums from around theworld and to coordinate temporary exhibitions or loanswith them. This has been the casewith themost recent display of Victorian art that has just finished at London’s LeightonHouseMuseum, that was alsoon show at Paris’sMusée Jacquemart-André, Rome’s Chiostrodel Bramante andMadrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. I have alsodrawn up agreements toplace some works inpermanent collections inmuseums, particularly in theUS,Mexico andSpain. Is there a particular artwork that brings together the essence of your collection, or of your passion? Theworks in the collection are a silent narrationofmy life. Thepaintings by Léon-Augustin Lhermitte and Jean-Baptiste CamilleCorot, for example, takeme to some ofmymost enjoyable times in life, for examplewithmy family or working in the country.WilliamAdolpheBouguereau andTamara de Lempicka’swork bringoutmy attraction tobeauty and female eroticism, while theworks of Agnolodi Cosimo di MarianoBronzino, FranciscodeGoya andAlexandre Cabanel amongst others reflectmy love for the lives of great characters from history. I could talk in the sameway about many othermoments inmy life via variousworks in the collection. Are there anywith aparticularly special or curious story? All thepieces in theCollectionhave their own story, andwerebought with a specific intention inmind and it wouldbe unfair topick one over another according to the ferociousness of thebiddingor thepeople interested in the artwork. Eachpiece acquired is an achievement similar to takingpossessionof someone after courting them and the ‘I do’ of a lovedone that was sought by another. What is your opinionof the art that the art fairmarkets is currently in thrall to? I think the art that themarkets are in thrall to, which ismainly modern and contemporary, is a reflectionof the timeswe are living in. Itmakes use of the technology that occupies such anoverwhelmingplace inour lives, andpromotes thediscovery of the ideabehind the object. This it does dependingon an evaluation that is evermore insistent on a curator’s or art critic’s specific art preference. What artistic trends are you currently keeping your eye on? Any living artist inparticular? There’s no current artistic trendor living artist that is shaping my acquisitions for the collection at themoment. However, I can tell you that in recent years I have intensifiedmy search for and acquisitionof 20th century LatinAmerican art. The so-called MexicanSchool of Painting and SouthernSchool promoted the affirmationof our identity and formal originality in the face of modernEuropean art. In the Collection therewere a lot of works representing the latter, but it was convenient to incorporate works that godeeper into this important stageand latermoments inLatinAmericanhistory. Of course, I amunquestionably linked to this – at somepoint or other I havementioned that ‘Spaingave me life andMexicogavememy destiny’. Hasmodern art lost its enigmaticmeaning? No. As I mentionedbefore, a largepart ofmodernpart promotes thediscovery of the ideabehind the object. The experience of the latter – just like art from any other period – is orientated and enrichedby thedegree towhich you know the context theworkwas created in. Is there anythingmoreprovocative than talent andbeauty? Although the traditionof interviews tells us that the interviewee should reply and the interviewer ask the questions, I would have loved to finish this interviewwith your question that is in turn the reply to all theprevious questions; the raisond’être of theCollection, of the search, of acquisition, of selfishor sharedpossession. Is there anythingmoreprovocative than talent andbeauty that could justifywhat has comebefore? LuisaNoriega PérezSimónpresentando una exposicióndepartede su colección en el MuseodeArtedeSanDiego en 2011/ PérezSimonduring the launching of the exhibitionhostedby theSanDiegoMuseumof Art in2011 © MuseodeArtedeSanDiego . 11