The Great Masters of Western Painting

Therefore, this exhibition...

Every person has one or more dreams. Some of them come true, some don't. At least I am happy to realize my "big" dreams regarding my profession.

My first dream was to open a gallery, which I would be responsible for in my youth, in my father’s profession, which I would continue. My second dream was to exhibit the rich artistic and cultural values ​​of this country in Western metropolises, in the form and venues they deserved. Opening a gallery was undoubtedly the easiest one. For the second, imagination, determination and knowledge alone were not enough. People, coincidences and financial opportunities had to come together. The late Sakıp Sabancı, whose memory will always live with me, played a major role in making these dreams come true. The “Masterpieces of Ottoman Calligraphy” exhibition, which I contributed to the development of with the opportunities he provided me, toured the world in New York Metropolitan, Los Angeles County Museum, Harvard, Paris Louvre and Berlin Guggenheim museums. This was the first time that a Turkish private collection was accepted in such an environment in these art centers. This exhibition later formed the basis of the calligraphy collection of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, which I also played a role in establishing. I had a third dream, but I had never thought I would be able to realize it. Back then, while watching the painting sales at the “Hotel Drout” auction halls in Paris, I would ask my father if one day we could sell a Van Gogh, a Monet, a Renoir in Türkiye, and he would tell me that it was an impossible dream. Years passed and the art and antique market developed in Türkiye as well. The number of private collectors increased. Private museums were opened and are being opened. But, unlike in Egypt or Iran, examples of important masters of Western painting could not enter our country. My father would say luck; I would say determination and patience. Finally, with this exhibition, I am realizing another dream of my youth. We brought together 16 oil paintings by the great masters of 19th and 20th century Western painting and a bronze sculpture by Rodin in an exhibition open for sale in Türkiye. I consider this exhibition as a small reward for the debt I feel towards my collector friends and colleagues who have trusted me and supported me to this day.

May the same be true for our new dreams..

Raffi Portakal Yeniköy, November 2004