Why a secret $500m art collection may never be revealed
Lindsey Hogg spent four decades secretly amassing an art collection. He wants to give it away by building a new public gallery – but the neighbours are not impressed.
Lindsey Hogg at his Harkaway property outside Melbourne. Josh Robenstone
Lindsey Hogg has a twinkle in his eye. “You’ll be the fourth person in my bedroom today. Not bad, eh?” he says. The 80-year-old has endured a long morning of back-to-back meetings, but he’s visibly energised as we catch sight of the painting that dominates the room: The Crucifixion by British artist Stanley Spencer.
A few months ago, Hogg was an anonymous businessman running two little-known chemicals companies in Melbourne. But that all changed in October when The Australian Financial Review revealed how he had spent 40 years quietly assembling a $500 million art collection which he intended to give to the state of Victoria. How? By building a $50 million art gallery complex at Harkaway, a semi-rural hamlet south-east of Melbourne.
James ThomsonColumnistJames Thomson is senior Chanticleer columnist based in Melbourne. He was the Companies editor and editor of BRW Magazine. Connect with James on Twitter. Email James at j.thomson@afr.com
