Greek tycoons host fetes where art markets are made after Basel

By Katya Kazakina

As Art Basel in Switzerland wound down last week, an international caravan of collectors descended upon a small island in Greece for what has become the art world’s annual tradition of mixing business with pleasure.

At invitation-only dinners on the 20 square-mile (51.8 square-kilometers) island of Hydra and at private mansions in nearby Athens, industrialist Leonidas Joannou and shipping magnate George Economou gathered collectors, dealers and curators to highlight their favorite artists.

“It’s about the relationships and the dialogue,” Joannou said as he made the rounds among his 400 guests seated at a 394- foot-long (120 meters) outdoor communal table along a rocky path on this pedestrian island overlooking the Argo-Saronic Gulf. “Collecting is almost a byproduct of that.”

A regular stop for the art crowd for the past five years, Greece offers a welcome break for the wealthy between Basel and the London auctions, the two biggest spring events in Europe for collectors. It also offers a glimpse at how markets are built in the opaque and unregulated 47 billion euro ($64.0 billion) art trade, where relationships among curators, gallerists and collectors can be as important for prices as the art itself.

The country’s two top patrons of contemporary art, sponsored exhibition openings for two artists they backed, Rashid Johnson and Pawel Althamer. After the weekend, Joannou ferried some guests from Hydra to Athens on his private yacht painted by Jeff Koons.

Grand tour

“Greece has become an established stop on a new European grand tour each June,” said Robert Manley, international director of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s auction house in...