Private art museum Dib Bangkok opens in Thailand in honour of late collector

With his shock of curly hair and thick-rimmed glasses, the late Thai collector Petch Osathanugrah cut a distinct figure. An industrialist, musician and heir to a popular energy drink company, he amassed a vast collection of more than 1,000 artworks and was in the early stages of building a private museum in Bangkok when he died from a heart attack in 2023.

In December, his son Purat “Chang” Osathanugrah finally opened Dib Bangkok. The museum is housed in a 1980s steel warehouse beautifully converted by US-based Thai architect Kulapat Yantrasast.

“My father had been talking about building a museum for the better part of my life, since before I could walk. What I inherited was, first and foremost, a dream,” says 32-year-old Chang, who helms the family office and has also taken over his father’s role as president of Bangkok University.

Chang recalls having sashimi with his father when the idea for calling the museum Dib, which means “raw” or “authentic” in Thai, came up. Petch had briefly considered naming it after himself, but they both decided against it.

“I want this to be the people’s museum. I didn’t want our family name attached to it,” Chang says. “I would be happy one day if people just walk in and have no idea who founded it.”

More than three decades in the planning, the project is much needed in a country with a shortage of major contemporary art museums.