Art Market
Annabel Keenan
Portrait of Suzanne Deal Booth. Painting by Charline Von Heyl, spherical sculptures by Pae White, chair by Fernando and Humberto Campana. Photo by Inti St. Clair. Courtesy of the Deal Booth Family.
Robert Irwin, Untitled, 2015. Photo by Erin Feinblatt. Courtesy of Susan Deal Booth.
“Collecting isn’t just about owning an object: It’s about caring for that object and supporting the artist who made it,” said Suzanne Deal Booth on a recent phone call.
That comment exemplifies her relationship with art, one cultivated over decades spent traveling the world, meeting artists, and learning the importance of cultural heritage. Born in Dallas and raised in Houston, Deal Booth has spent decades supporting art and artists. She approaches her collection as a philanthropic endeavor, preservation effort, and a way to fill her world with beauty.
Deal Booth grew up in Houston and visited museums as a child—but not always for the art. “Back then, on hot summer days, we’d go places for the air conditioning, and museums were often the best place to be,” she recalled. “The Museum of Fine Arts was our playground on a hot day.”
Her upbringing was outdoorsy. Weather permitting, most of Deal Booth’s time was spent in nature, early experiences that taught her the importance of conservation and shaped her love of beauty. “Spending time in nature still fuels me,” she said. “I’ve always been a visual person and have loved things that are beautiful, whether they’re made by humans or found in nature.”
Portrait of Suzanne Deal Booth. Photo by Drew Kelly. Artwork: Mungo Thomson, Negative Space, 2013. © Drew Kelly. Courtesy of Suzanne Deal Booth.
Deal Booth decided to study art history at Rice University after spending a year traveling around Europe in a Volkswagen van when she was 19. “I realized I loved history, and especially the visual interpretations of our contemporary times through artistic expression,” she said. Soon after college, she began to collect art, but in a somewhat unconventional way: working side jobs in exchange for art, when she could afford it. “When I was in my early to mid-20s after college, I did some editing and odd jobs for a print dealer and was paid in prints,” she explained. “And I worked for a gallery in Houston on weekends. Sometimes I opted to be paid in art.”
These early endeavors earned Deal Booth prints by renowned figures like Eduardo Chillida, Jean Cocteau, and André Derain, works she still owns and loves today.
During this time, Deal Booth connected with someone who would change her life: Dominique de Menil. “She was almost like a saint to me,” Deal Both said. “She was wise, and she cared deeply about things—objects and social causes—and she became a mentor to me.”
A collector and philanthropist, de Menil also founded The Menil Collection in Houston with her husband John as a museum to house their artworks ranging from antiquities to modernity, including works by Surrealist artists like René Magritte, Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, as well as 20th-century masters like Cy Twombly and Mark Rothko.
Deal Booth met de Menil as a work/study student at Rice University, where the philanthropist was a patron. She soon began working for The Menil Collection and later lived in de Menil’s home when she was a graduate student studying art history and conservation at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. “It was her way of helping me,” Deal Booth said. “I got to live with her marvelous collection and be around her and talk about art, our relationships with objects, and why we should care about preserving things.”
Max Ernst, Le Génie de la Bastille, Huismes, 1960. Photo by Erin Feinblatt. Courtesy of Suzanne Deal Booth.
Deal Booth herself learned the importance of conservation firsthand. As a student, she had the opportunity to work on an excavation outside of Rome, witnessing the value of antiquities and material culture. She also saw preservation work on the Rothko Chapel and Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk (1963-67) while at the Menil. Professionally, Deal Booth honed her appreciation for preservation while working for a decade at the Getty Conservation Institute. Coupled with the lessons she learned from de Menil about philanthropy, these experiences led Deal Booth to establish related awards and fellowships.
These include the Suzanne Deal Booth Rome Prize Fellowship for Historic Preservation and Conservation at the American Academy in Rome, launched in 2002, and the Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize, co-organized with The Contemporary Austin in 2018. Today, Deal Booth serves on several museum boards, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Atelier Calder, American Friends of Centre Pompidou, Ballroom Marfa, and the Menil Collection.
In recent years, she has expanded her stewardship to include agriculture, enology, and biodynamic farming practices. In 2010, she purchased the Napa Valley vineyard, Bella Oaks, and in 2024, added the historic Wheeler Farms winery to her holdings, becoming a leading name in celebrated wine and olive oils. Both are settings where she enjoys placing artwork from her collection as a way to explore how senses can be heightened by both the natural landscape and artistic expression.
Bosco Sodi, Untitled, 2017. Photo by Erin Feinblatt. Courtesy of Suzanne Deal Booth
Today, Deal Booth’s expansive collection includes paintings, sculptures, and installations by artists like Jasper Johns, Brice Marden, and Yayoi Kusama. “It’s hard to define how I buy,” she said. “I like things that evoke a feeling in me, and I can’t describe that feeling. I don’t limit myself to genre or material; I am driven by curiosity and a desire to be surrounded by beauty.”
She advises new art buyers to follow a similarly open approach: “Be curious; ask questions; and buy what moves you.”
While her collection is eclectic, certain themes do emerge. “I don’t have a lot of figurative art,” Deal Booth said. “I’m drawn more to minimalist art and abstract or atmospheric work. Some of my art does have hints of representation or symbols, but they’re usually abstracted.”
Among Deal Booth’s favorite artworks is a series of terracotta cubes by Mexican artist Bosco Sodi installed at Bella Oaks. “He is a great example of someone whose work made me curious,” she said. “I saw a piece at a gallery, fell in love, and had to know more.”
Yayoi Kusama, Where the Lights in My Heart Go, 2016. Photo by Erin Feinblatt. Courtesy of Suzanne Deal Booth.
As she often does, Deal Booth met the artist after seeing his work by chance at Kasmin gallery in New York, where she was considering buying a Lee Krasner painting. “Artists are some of the most interesting characters around,” she explained. “I’d recommend that anyone meet the artist whose works they buy. It adds such a deeper dimension to the piece.”
Another beloved work at Bella Oaks is a mirrored Kusama installation, Where the Lights in My Heart Go (2016). “It creates a kind of forced perspective with the hillside where the work looks bigger than it is,” she said. The mirrored exterior reflects the surrounding landscapes, and visitors can enter the structure and look outside through small peepholes, changing the scale and perspective.
“I love it because I’m usually bringing someone new to see it, and I get to experience their reaction, which is often joy and surprise,” she said. “It’s like the first time you see a total eclipse. You know you’re seeing something for the first time, and you’re in awe of that moment.”