Advisor’s Lens with Victoria Burns

Edward Hopper, “Nighthawks,” 1942, The Art Institute of Chicago

Advisor’s Lens 🔍
Where we highlight our members’ art historical insights and curatorial expertise.

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Advisor’s Lens is an ongoing series that shines a light on APAA members and the expertise they bring to their work—through their art historical knowledge, curatorial experience, and personal connections within the art world.

In this feature, we're spotlighting Victoria Burns, founder & principal of Victoria Burns Art Advisory, an advisory firm specializing in helping private and institutional clients curate collections that align with their personal vision, enrich their surroundings, and contribute meaningfully to long-term wealth, offering comprehensive services in collection building and management, logistics, and educational programs.

Victoria emphasizes art history as a guiding principle in building thoughtful collections. Believing that every work becomes more powerful when you understand the moment it comes from, Victoria developed a roadmap to guide her clients through 20th-century American art history and key 21st-century global artists.

From the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913 to the rise of Surrealism and the bold statements of Pop Art, each movement shaped how we see the art that followed. In the 21st century, understanding the global contemporary art market

means recognizing the currents that shape abstraction, figuration, and conceptual work. Whether you’re in a museum, at an art fair, or walking through a gallery, context transforms what you’re seeing. Political shifts, technological change, personal histories—these don’t dictate meaning, but they unlock it. They invite deeper reflection, sharper curiosity, and a more meaningful connection to the work. Victoria’s collecting lens ties these threads together—helping clients build collections that are as intellectually resonant as they are visually compelling. Building collections with this lens isn’t just about acquiring art—it’s about cultivating a richer way of seeing.

For an immersive study, read Victoria’s Art Historical Overview of American art in the 20th and 21st Centuries HERE.

Edward Hopper, “Nighthawks,” 1942, The Art Institute of Chicago

Jackson Pollock, “One: Number 31,” 1950, MoMA, New York

Willem de Kooning, “Woman I,” 1950–52, MoMA, New York

Helen Frankenthaler, “Interior Landscape,” 1964, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Andy Warhol, “Marilyn Diptych,” 1962, The Tate, London

Donald Judd, “Untitled,” 1967, MoMA, New York

Sam Gilliam, “10/27/69,” 1969, MoMA, New York

Barkley Hendricks, “Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris,” 1972, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Alice Neel, “Self-Portrait,” 1980, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Barbara Kruger, “Untitled (You Invest in the Divinity of the Masterpiece),” 1982, MoMA, New York

Richard Prince, “Untitled (Cowboy),” 1989, The Met, New York