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Sporting a pair of his trademark blue light glasses and a warm smile, Philippe Tavaud is certainly a recognisable figure among art collectors. Always stylish and surrounded with artists and fellow gallerists, Tavaud is an active participant in the French art scene. On his Instagram account one can always find a wide range of rich and comprehensive posts about the art world events, artworks and artists. In addition to his work as a collector of contemporary art, Tavaud sometimes curates shows and mediates during the artwork acquisition processes. This year, Tavaud is also a jury member of the Young Painter Prize, an international art competition for young artists from the Baltic states.

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You are well known in the Paris art scene. How did you end up there? After all, you work in an entirely different area.

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Well, I wouldn’t say I am “well known” (laughs). Let’s just say, I know a lot of people. I am drawn by my insatiable appetite for art, particularly contemporary art, and each year I try to visit as many galleries and museums, contemporary art fairs, and artist studios as I can. This way I am able to meet a lot of people and thus create a wide network of contacts. Warm interpersonal relations too kindle my passion for contemporary art, I think this inspires me the most.

Meanwhile my job is entirely different – I work in the American software company. These spheres – private and professional – rarely intersect. Art is the garden of my soul, although this is not what we in France call “the secret garden” (un jardin secret), because everybody knows about my passion.

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When did you start collecting artworks? What inspired you?

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My passion for art is rather old, but the idea of collecting it is fairly recent. During the past 30 years, I have acquired a few of the classical works, but I started collecting contemporary art only 12 years ago. The rate of acquisitions grew each year. When you love the art world that much, you always want to keep at least a little part of it to yourself. I think, if it weren’t for the collectors, artists would find it difficult to survive. Which is why I think collecting is a humble way of helping out those who bring so much joy to my life and kindle my passion.

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Do you have any guidelines when acquiring artworks for your collection? What artworks do you collect, specifically?

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There are no particular guidelines for artworks in my collection, at least not that I am consciously aware of. I simply follow my heart. I rarely pick works rationally, the process is rather intuitive. My choices are irrational, as they are all acts of passion. I collect a lot of paintings, but I also have quite a few drawings, photographs and sculptures. I have a certain leaning towards figurative art, although I have a lot of abstract art too. The collection is certainly dominated by contemporary art, but I also have works of art brut and urban art.

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Are you a spontaneous artwork buyer? Also, does your family take part in the process of acquisition?

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Due to my enthusiastic nature, my acquisitions do have a certain spontaneity about them. I sometimes spend a long time observing an artist I value, until I suddenly fall in love with a particular artwork. So far, we have been talking about “my” collection, although I should say it actually belongs to both me and my wife. When considering particularly expensive acquisitions, we always have to come to a mutual agreement about things like dimensions or topics. Meanwhile I allow myself the creative freedom when choosing less expensive artworks, even if they are not quite to the taste of my second half. Sometimes we also give each other artworks as presents.

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Do you have any interesting stories about your collection?

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There is indeed much to tell about each and every acquisition, because every artwork often represents the story of particular interpersonal relations, their beginning or continuation, and it is usually between me and the artist, or a gallerist. So every artwork has a story. I’ll tell you one that I found rather surprising: my son, back in his adolescence, often reproached us that by buying all this art we were wasting away his inheritance (laughs). But then one day, the unexpected happened – he took a liking of one of our recent acquisitions, a watercolour painting by an American artist. One night I was complaining about the cold in our house, and my son confessed that he had shut off some of the radiators, fearing that excessive heat would damage this fragile artwork.

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There are many works by young artists in your collection. Why do you choose to buy the artworks of the unknown artists?

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Indeed, our collection is comprised predominantly of the works of up-and-coming artists (although some of them became established and got old since the time when I had fist acquired their work). I am not a billionaire, so our collection has a limited budget. By choosing young artists, we are able to allow ourselves to buy bigger and more numerous artworks. And it is such a great joy to be among the first collectors of a young artist who later acquires recognition! The joy comes not so much from the rising financial value of the acquisitions (it is of secondary importance to us), but from the satisfaction of someone who ‘got it right’ and noticed the potential success of someone whom they have been following for years.

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How did you come to use Instagram (@tavaud_pilippe)? What turned you into such an active sharer of information about the shows, artists and artworks?

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Instagram is, first of all, my personal notebook that helps me remember all the shows, artworks and artists that charm or interest me. Second, it is a space where I can share my passion for contemporary art. My Instagram account is like a business card that makes me recognisable in contemporary art. Artists often thank me for sharing their work, and many of my followers inspire me to keep introducing the new content which they would otherwise not be able to find themselves due to the lack of time, or the inability to actually visit places the way I do.