Sindika Dokolo
| Sindika Dokolo | |
|---|---|
Sindika Dokolo in Venice, in July 2007
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| Born |
16 March 1972 Kinshasa, Zaire |
| Nationality | Congolese |
| Occupation | Art collector, businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Isabel dos Santos (m. 2002) |
| Website | fondation-sindikadokolo |
Sindika Dokolo (born 16 March 1972) is a Congolese art collector and businessman. He owns one of the most important contemporary African art collections, which includes more than 3,000 pieces.
Born in Kinshasa in 1972, he was brought up in Belgium and France by his parents: Augustin Dokolo, a bank owner, millionaire and collector of African arts, and his Danish wife Hanne Kruse. He attended the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris from which he graduated; later he studied economics, commerce and foreign languages at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris.
In 2002, he married Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, President of Angola.
Through his father's initiative, he started an arts collection at the age of 15. During an interview to Angolan TV network TPA, Sindika Dokolo said his parents already very much liked art: his mother took him to visit all the museums in Europe and his father was a great collector of classical African art. In 1995, he decided to return to Zaire to join the large family business – in total 17 companies (banking, breeding, fishing, coffee exportation, real estate, consumer goods distributor, merchandise conveyance, printing, insurance, mining and car selling). The country collapsed and their activity couldn't survive. Later, these family businesses were nationalized by the Government of Zaire in 1986 under President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Later he started the Sindika Dokolo Foundation in order to promote numerous arts and culture festivals at home and abroad. Its mission is to create a center for contemporary art in Luanda, in the display, and not only pieces of contemporary African art, but also to create the conditions and activities which are necessary to integrate African artists in the international circles of the art world. Dokolo states that his connection to the arts is not intended to be recognized as a great collector, but rather "to present African artists to the world". The Foundation follows the principle of borrowing freely its pieces to any international museum as long as that museum presents the same exhibit in an African country.
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