Gap founder to build San Francisco museum for his art collection
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 | 3:29 PM ET
The Associated Press
The founder of Gap Inc. plans to build a vast museum near the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to house his collection of contemporary art.
'I'm concerned about what happens to the collection … I'd like it to be seen.' —Donald Fisher, Gap founder
Donald Fisher, 78, said Wednesday that he hopes to erect the 100,000-square-foot museum in the Presidio, the one-time military base turned national park overlooking the Pacific and San Francisco Bay.
Fisher and his wife, Doris, have a collection of more than 1,000 works of art, including pieces by Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein and Gerhard
Richter.
Experts believe the collection, which has until now been kept from public view, could be valued at more more than $1 billion US in today's buoyant art market.
"I'm concerned about what happens to the collection," Fisher said. "I don't want to turn around and sell it, and I don't want it to be sold when I pass away. I'd like it to be seen."
Most of the work is currently in the Fishers' homes and in two galleries at the San Francisco headquarters of Gap, the retail giant the couple founded in 1969.
Fisher hopes to open the museum in three years. It first must undergo an environmental review and receive approval from the park's board before going forward.
