In his introduction to the exhibition catalogue, Mr. Baryshnikov recounts the beginnings of his collection:

“I first wandered into the Galerie Proscenium on the Rue de Seine in Paris in the winter of 1975. I was finally in the city I’d dreamt about since childhood. The dollar was strong and I had money in my pocket. Hanging on the gallery walls were original costume and scenic designs by Christian Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Leonor Fini, Léon Bakst, and others. These were names I knew from school and I’d seen reproductions of their work in books, but never the real thing up close and available to buy. I left the gallery giddy with excitement and, tucked under my arm, a Cocteau drawing of Sergei Diaghilev and a Bérard design for Balanchine’s Mozartiana. At the hotel, I unwrapped them and propped them up on the desk like a proud father. I think I spent weeks staring at those drawings trying to absorb that they were truly mine.” Read More

In art historian John Bowlt's essay on The Mikhail Baryshnikov Collection, he writes:

The collection “reveals a common denominator, an esthetic and even emotional axis which has driven, and continues to drive, the collector and his creation—and that is the art of motion, whether in classical ballet (Benois’s designs for Nutcracker), the danse plastique (Fini’s fluent interpretations), social gesture (Arefiev’s anonymous couples), or simply amicable encounters between geniuses of the dance (Merce Cunningham’s dedication to Baryshnikov).” Read More