Meet the collectors | Hélène Nguyen-Ban

Art Basel’s ‘Meet the collectors’ film series celebrates today’s most inspiring patrons.

Art collecting isn’t just a passion for Hélène Nguyen-Ban – it’s a lifelong adventure. In this episode of ‘Meet the collectors’, the philanthropist tells Art Basel how art was first ‘therapy’ and a way to make sense of her diverse heritage, with roots in Asia, Africa, and Europe, where she lives today between Paris and London. 

As she leads us through her collection – which includes remarkable pieces by the likes of Marlene Dumas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and Pascale Marthine Tayou – she explains how art soon also became something to be shared. Nguyen-Ban is a staunch supporter of institutions on both sides of the Channel, including Tate, the Palais de Tokyo, the Centre Pompidou, and grassroots organizations like Goldsmiths’s CCA and AWARE, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of women artists. She’s also the chair of Fluxus Art Projects, a private-public partnership destined to provide grants and residencies to artists and curators in France and the UK.

A few months ago, Nguyen-Ban and mathematician Mathieu Rosenbaum also launched the app Docent, a ‘Spotify for art lovers’ to provide bespoke artwork recommendations to collectors using artificial intelligence. ‘My dream as a collector is to ensure that the adventure of art is shared by as many new people as possible,’ she says.

Film: Virgile Texier
Camera: Yuna Doignon-Tournier
Edit: François-Xavier Antonini / Oscar Dewatz
Grading: Aliochas Peter
Sound & Mix: Bon Enfant Productions

Art Basel
Executive Editor: Coline Milliard
Editor, France: Patrick Steffen
Video Commissioner: Jeanne-Salomé Rochat
Creative Producer: Akiel Gallina