The first time that the Vogels made their collection public was in 1975, when they put on a show at the Clocktower Gallery, an influential alternative space that had opened two years earlier in Lower Manhattan. The show featured 40 works by 40 of the artists they collected. Since then, they have been generous in loaning their work to numerous institutions that were less prescient.

The Vogels always thought of themselves as caretakers rather than owners of their collection and, although they’ve kept a few works back to pay for long-term nursing care if needed (two Robert Rymans, for example), they have never sold a work they’ve acquired. "We always made decisions in the light of what was best for the collection," Dorothy says proudly.

Ironically, even the National Gallery doesn’t have room to house the Vogel collection in its entirety, and in accordance with its charter, the museum is not allowed to sell any of it. To solve this problem, curator Ruth Fine suggested a program, "Fifty Works for Fifty States," which will see the works distributed all over the country. Each of the institutions that accepts the donation vows to display the pieces within five years of receiving them.

Herb is largely housebound now and no longer has the energy to visit galleries or artists’ studios. One of the Vogels’ rare trips out is a five-hour taxi ride to Washington twice a year to visit their collection. Their names are carved in stone at the top of a list of benefactors in the building’s airy atrium. "It’s like going to see your children who are at college," says Herb. For once, they are more focused on distributing their collection than on adding to it. As Dorothy says wistfully, "Our collecting days are finally over."

"Many Splendid Things" originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's April 2009 Table of Contents.