Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros

Abbreviation	Colección Cisneros
Named after	Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Formation	1970s
Founder	Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gustavo Cisneros
Founded at	New York City Caracas, Venezuela
Type	Arts organization
Legal status	Company
Purpose	Cultural and educational initiative
Headquarters	New York City Caracas, Venezuela
Region	Latin America
Official languages	English Spanish Portuguese
Co-Founder	Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Co-Founder	Gustavo Cisneros
Website	ColecciónCisneros.org

Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) is a privately held Latin American art organization based in Venezuela and New York City founded by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Gustavo Cisneros.

In the 1970s, during Patricia Phelps de Cisneros' travels across Latin America with her husband, Gustavo Cisneros, Cisneros spent her time visiting artists in their studios and seeing art in local galleries and museums, and began actively purchasing and collecting artwork. Primarily collecting indigenous work during frequent expeditions through Venezuela, especially around the Orinoco in the Amazon River Basin.

As her collection grew, Cisneros saw that Latin American art was under-represented in the international art community, so the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) was formed in the 1990s, with a goal of bringing visibility and impact to the way Latin American art history is viewed and appreciated. That effort has included a four-pronged approach: An ambitious approach to lending artworks around the world, working with scholars and academics to learn more about the artists and their works, the creation of a publications program to provide supporting information about the artists and their work, and building an online forum for the artwork.

The CPPC is best known for its collection of Modernist geometric abstraction from Latin America and also comprises holdings of Latin American landscapes by traveler artists to Latin America in the 17th to 19th centuries; furniture and art from Latin America's colonial period; contemporary art from Latin America; and an important group of art and artifacts from indigenous peoples of Venezuela's Amazonas region, the Orinoco Collection. The mission of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros is to enhance appreciation of the diversity, sophistication, and range of art from Latin America.

Gradually, Cisneros began acquiring geometric abstract artwork that had been under-appreciated. It gradually grew into a significant holding of 20th century Latin American abstract art. She has appeared on top collector lists every year since 1998. Cisneros has been lending her collections to international exhibitions and institutions since 1999.