1.5 Billion Dollar Art Buyer

A wealthy sheik from Qatar who is the world's single biggest buyer of art has been dismissed as his country's art acquisitions chief after a disagreement with the emir of Qatar over his spending habits. Though the sheik, Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani, has built up a large private collection of his own, he also had a mandate as chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage to buy art for five museums being planned for Qatar"s capital. Sheik Saud has spent close to 1.5 billion dollars on art in recent years. In a rare interview with The Art Newspaper last year, the sheik described his approach to buying art. "I go buy masterpieces," he was quoted as saying. For the full story - click the title Irish Art