Idea of a Museum

“I was sent into this world by God in order to collect this art for the Russian people” (from the last interview of George Costakis). By the 1970s, George Costakis was constantly thinking about the fate of his collection. In 1973, he turned to the Ministry of Culture and personally to its minister Ekaterina Furtseva with a proposal to create a museum of contemporary art - in this case, Costakis was ready to donate the entire collection to the state. He repeatedly voiced his decision in an interview during a foreign lecture tour in the fall of 1973. At the end of 1975, he was invited to the Ministry of Culture to clarify his intentions. He once again confirmed his wish to donate the entire collection to the country, but insisted on guarantees: his collection should never be sold (partially or jointly), the collection should be on exhibited on permanent basis and a full scale catalogue would have to be published.

These conversations and letters to high authorities did not lead to any result - the museum was never created. Before Costakis’ departure to the West, the collection was divided. Until his death, the collector did not lose hope that the works he collected would be fully presented in Russia - if a new museum that would be created in Moscow (the letters mentioned the name of the Museum of the Avant-garde), he was ready to give away the “western” part of the collection. According to collector’s biographer Peter Roberts, the main concern and disappointment of George Costakis in his latter years were associated with the missed opportunity to create a museum and a potential dismemberment of the collection.