‘There have been times in the past when I’ve bought things I’ve regretted,’ says David Roberts, with a smile. ‘But it’s not a mistake if you liked it at the time. It’s part of your history and process.’ A genial Scottish property developer in his late 60s, Roberts is known among galleries for never selling work on. Perhaps as a result, his vault of mid-century to contemporary pieces now numbers close to 2,500 and includes over 900 artists who range from the blue-chip names like Louise Bourgeois to younger talents like the British painter Flora Yukhnovich. Collecting, for Roberts, has always been about sharing. Works from the collection are out in the world all the time: the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Solomon. R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and Tate Modern in London have all been beneficiaries.

Today, Roberts divides his time between Scotland and London, and has made significant contributions to the art ecosystem across the British Isles. He established the David Roberts Art Foundation in Camden, north London – home to the famous market – in 2007. ‘By then I had several hundred works. The office was full and the house was full. I had to work out a plan,’ he says. Working closely with the late curator Vincent Honoré, he took on a former factory, which became known as a thriving center for performance art. ‘It’s a practice where artists need the most help,’ he says. ‘It takes so much time and commitment to develop a performance piece from the ground up.’ Then in 2009, he met his future wife, the artist Indrė Šerpytytė, at her Master’s degree show at the Royal College of Art, London. They have worked together on the foundation, which is now known as the Roberts Institute of Art, ever since.

When Roberts and Šerpytytė are in London, which is most of the year, they live in an unassuming-looking building in Fitzrovia which offers generous internal space. On the walls of the first-floor living room, reached up a steep staircase, hang paintings by Anthony Cudahy, Keith Coventry, and Enrico David. ‘It’s in a state of flux at the moment,’ they explain of the art on show. Work is being carried out on the ground floor and basement and proving disruptive to daily life – let alone choosing what to put where. ‘But whatever we choose for the walls, it always ends up in an exhibition,’ says Roberts. ‘Once our curators see it, it’s like it’s been set free.’ (The Roberts Institute of Art has a small programming team of director Kate Davies, two curators, and a digital coordinator, alongside a collection care team of two technicians and a registrar.)

Roberts started collecting art in the mid-1990s, moving from prints to paintings, learning about art from the artists themselves, and honing his eye over time. ‘I’ve had no formal training,’ he says. ‘But I’ve spent a lot of time looking and talking. Often, one artist will introduce me to another. The majority of them are very generous like that.’ It was, for example, the British sculptor Cathie Pilkington who brought him to both Rose Wylie and Emma Talbot. ‘It’s a very dark, heavy work,’ says Roberts of the first piece he acquired by the latter. ‘But it was so compelling – a big storyboard painting about children and loss,’ continues Šerpytytė. ‘It felt right for the collection.’

In 2017, the pair gave up the Camden site and turned their attention to Scotland, where they had taken a lease on a baronial home in 2015. Belonging to the Earls of Airlie, Cortachy Castle is a turreted, sprawling residence, with its original parts dating to the 15th century. It is in rolling green countryside, though just 40 minutes from Dundee and 50 minutes from Aberdeen and here they have created studio spaces for artists’ residencies. The first to take advantage in 2022 was the New York-based British ceramist Jesse Wine, who used the opportunity to experiment for the first time with wood and bronze. ‘Monika Sosnowska came for over a month and just used the time to sketch and draw, to think,’ says Šerpytytė. ‘We ask them to leave some kind of record, but that could just be a written note.’ Next up are husband and wife: the sculptor Des Hughes and painter and printmaker Clare Woods.

In the grounds of the castle – which was first brought to their attention by gallerist power couple Iwan and Manuela Wirth who lease their own Scottish pile, Invercauld Castle, and own the nearby Fife Arms in Braemar – are other fruits of the couple’s collecting. The complete Piss Flowers installation (1991-1992) by the late Helen Chadwick has pride of place, along with works by Tony Cragg, Charles Avery, and Anthony Caro, with whom Roberts formed a strong bond towards the end of the sculptor’s life. ‘He was an inspiration,’ says Roberts. ‘He spoke about sculpture and its spatial implications with so much eloquence. He was definitely part of my art education.’

Roberts has never been one to indulge too heavily in the dazzling side of the art world, always more invested in how his patronage can help artists and institutions, than putting himself in the spotlight. Šerpytytė is also a serious artist, whose degree show work – that Roberts bought on the spot – consisted of photographs of apparently ordinary domestic homes that in fact housed covert KGB centers. ‘It was just nine images then,’ she says. ‘Now it comprises 300.’ It has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015), and at Kunsthall 3.14, Bergen, Norway (2021). Her work will be part of a group exhibition coming up at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, in the autumn.

While she is still making work, it is at a slower pace. ‘We have a six-year-old daughter,’ she says. ‘That accounts for a lot of time.’ Studio visits and art fairs are now lower on the to-do list, too. ‘We’ll go to Basel,’ says Roberts. ‘But we’re less on the treadmill now.’ Instead, as well as their close connections with artists, they have on-going relationships with trusted dealers, among them the Modern Institute, Grimm, and Timothy Taylor. ‘I just bought a 1970s Paul Jenkins painting from Tim,’ says Roberts. ‘He had it in a show in New York.’

While the art world becomes ever more international, Roberts and Šerpytytė have chosen to look to the British regions, working with smaller galleries who will benefit significantly from their help. ‘Big institutions are turning increasingly to big names to get visitors through the door,’ says Roberts. ‘Exhibitions have become a global exercise.’ ‘We decided several years ago to focus on regional museums instead, and it’s a wonderful way to get the collection out there,’ adds Šerpytytė. They have collaborated with The Hunterian in Glasgow (2022) and Hastings Contemporary (2024), for example. From June, over 25 works from the collection are being shown at Focal Point Gallery in Southend-on-Sea – a small city in south-east England – along with a newly commissioned sound and performance piece by Haroon Mirza. Another exhibition opening in July will take works from the collection including pieces by Mona Hatoum and Doris Salcedo to the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester in the Midlands.

‘In London there’s already so much happening,’ they say, ‘and we’d rather help a small museum that used to put on two or three shows a year, and is now struggling to do that.’ But they will certainly be in London for Gallery Weekend at the start of June (6–8). ‘It creates a buzz, to know all the galleries will be open,’ says Šerpytytė. ‘And they’ll all be upping their game,’ says Roberts. ‘Best foot forward!’ No doubt a few purchases will be made too.