Major Philadelphia Museum of Art donors talk about some of their favorite works

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To say art has dominated the lives of Keith and Kathy Sachs is to say the sun shines during the day.

Throughout 47 years of marriage, the Sachses have been dedicated collectors of modern art. Since the 1980s, they have focused their attention on the art of their time.

In 2014, the Sachses announced that they would give the bulk of their art to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

What that transformational gift will mean to the museum will be on view beginning Tuesday, when "Embracing the Contemporary: The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection" opens for a run through Sept. 5.

The 97 works in the exhibition bring a range of contemporary masters into focus: Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, Neil Jenney, Anselm Kiefer, Brice Marden, Charles Ray, Richard Serra - and many, many more.

While the couple have tended to favor the abstract and the minimal in their collecting, the Sachses have been happy to deviate from their itinerary - depending on the artwork and the timing.

The only constant has been a deep interest in what art reveals about the heart and mind, and what it has to say about seeing.

The Sachses know what they want.

We asked them to talk about a few of the works on exhibition. They began with Hodgkin's abstract portrait, Keith and Kathy Sachs, which is set in an old octagonal frame.

How did Hodgkin come to paint your portraits?

Keith Sachs: We first saw Howard's work at a show in Pittsburgh in 1985. We really loved the work. The following year we bought a painting of Howard's and, eventually, became very friendly with him.

Kathy Sachs: Howard came to our house for lunch, late October 1988. Many people wonder, "Well, how do you sit for a portrait with Howard Hodgkin?" He paints abstract pictures of real emotions. The way we sat for Howard was to have dinner with him, lunch with him - in London, New York, Philadelphia, Paris even. Sometimes, when we were eating, after a few courses, Howard would look at us and say, "Could you switch places?" We realized he was looking at us the whole time. One of the greatest lessons we both learned about art in general was the day we actually saw the picture for the first time, which was in 1991, three years after it was commissioned. We never expected it to be orange. We never expected the frame to be shaped in this way. We learned very quickly that wonderful art, great art, is truly something that surprises you. . . . We continue to this day to see things in it that we did not notice before.

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