Edward Winkleman

NEW YORK—In our newest weekly feature, ArtInfo will ask collectors—ranging from those relatively new to the game to some of the world's top art buyers—to discuss specific works hanging on their walls: Their favorite piece; their first purchase; or perhaps their most recent acquisition.

Our second collector is Edward Winkleman, a New York gallerist (Chelsea’s Plus Ultra Gallery) who also writes a popular art blog.

My Favorite Work in My Collection:

“I’m an emerging art dealer, but my favorite piece in my collection is an etching by Picasso.

It’s my favorite because it was the first major piece I ever bought. Everything from buying it to getting it framed—and the relationships that spawned that have followed me into my career as I’ve opened a gallery—make it special to me. It’s a very sentimental piece for me.

It’s unmistakably Picasso, but also very atypical. He illustrated the text for the opera Carmen with a series of faces. … [The portrait] is a very fat round circle, kind of like someone’s head exploded. When I took it in to get it framed, the framer said that when he saw it he knew immediately what it was. He was just so excited about it.

It’s in my living room. At home, my boyfriend and I have discussed that if there’s ever a fire or some sort of emergency, the procedure is “grab the passports, grab the Picasso.”

[It] was compensation for working for a gallery in Washington, D.C. The ones in this series sell for about $2,500 today, but it was valued at $1,600 when I got it.”