An Art Gallery For A Home – Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani are a mega art-collecting couple based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Today, The Most Expensive Homes blog is embarking on a journey to showcase their luxurious residence, continue reading to find out more.
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The artworks on display in this sumptuous home perfectly capture many of the Samdanis’ collecting tendencies. The couple’s passion for their art is so intense that it takes precedence over the design of their luxury residence. They built the house around the art pieces and not the opposite!
Nadia and Rajeeb started designing this home a decade ago, working alongside architects from Golden Harvest in order to build a space that would be at the same time comfortable for their family and fit to showcase their more than 2000 art pieces.
Some art pieces are displayed in the ground floor that works as a gallery, and other smaller paintings, prints and photos fill the first, second and third floors. Four paintings line the Samdanis’ living room – from left: Flussi Immobili 19 (2011) by Francesa Leone; Glue Sniffers (2016) by Michael Armitage; Interior II (2018) by Antonio Oba; and Blue Lazarus (2007) by Chris Ofili. Inset: Untitled (2015) by Claudia Wieser.
Get the look:
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Every 18 months, the Samdanis switch up the artwork on exhibit at the luxury residence. However, it’s not an easy process, for it takes three months to rearrange everything.
Connecting Western audiences to the art of the Samdanis’ region of the world has been a major focus of the couple’s collaboration with international institutions. In order to assist the purchase and loan of artwork from the region, Rajeeb cofounded (and Nadia joined) the South Asian Acquisitions Committee at the Tate.
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Golpo also has a bridge connecting East and West. Works by Western and Eastern artists coexist side by side, and occasionally one of the two cultures is addressed directly by the artist. One such instance is Pawel Althamer’s pair of skeleton-like human figures named Safik and Nahid after two Bangladeshis, which were displayed at the 2013 Venice Biennale.
Despite the fact that the art of her own upbringing was very different, Nadia inherited her parents’ love fo collecting. Rajeeb and her only started a transition towards modern art after they got married. Prior to that, Rajeeb never considered himself a collection. Nadia characterizes this transition as “an organic learning process through reading and traveling.”
They have gathered works by a who’s who of contemporary artists over the past ten years, striking a delicate balance between South Asian and worldwide names, particularly from Asia and Europe. They are well-versed in the international art scene. By launching the Samdani Art Foundation and the Dhaka Art Summit, the Samdanis have established themselves as well-known collectors, featuring on ARTnews’ Top 200 Collectors list.
The couple still looks for purchases based on an instant reaction to an artwork after 16 years of collecting, whether it’s by an artist they’ve known and collected for years or a new find they can’t wait to learn about.
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