It is very rare to view a private collection of art like "Ingenious Iceland: 20th-Century Icelandic paintings from the Anthony J. Hardy Collection" in Hong Kong. The 80 pieces of modern and contemporary art make it possibly the largest collection of Icelandic art outside of Iceland and Scandinavia.
Hardy, a Hong Kong shipping executive and a former honorary consul for Iceland, is also a collector of traditional Chinese art, maritime art and maritime memorabilia.
The fascination of viewing any private art collection is to observe the foibles, bias and idiosyncrasies of its collector. Private collectors are beholden to only themselves, and their choices can be brave, odd and surprising.
Collecting can be obsessive, but the challenge should not be to collect everything, rather to build a superlative niche.