The Collector: Nicole Saikalis Bay Has a Global Vision for Milan’s Art Scene

In just over a decade, Nicole Saikalis Bay has grown from a Milanese architect to a collector that helms a nonprofit art foundation and a Milan-based project space. 

Though her taste has evolved over time, her values remain the same: to bring international art to Milan and a new generation of Italian artists to the world.

Milan’s status as a European arts centre has been furthered over recent years through initiatives such as miart, the modern and contemporary art fair celebrating its 30th edition from 17–19 April this year, as well as the concurrent 400 event-wide Milan Art Week. 

Saikalis Bay is determined to further this evolution through a network of support which disperses the artistic expertise forged through her personal collection to her local cultural scene.

Establishing a Collection

The architect, consultant and patron meets The Art Journal during a short stay in London, where she splits her time alongside a palazzo in Milan and a house in Switzerland’s picturesque Engadin valley. In the Mayfair bistro where she sips a pot of tea, she is soft-spoken yet authoritative. Saikalis Bay is well-versed in socialising – she often hosts tours, talks and receptions, both in her foundation’s permanent space, CIRCOLO, as well as throughout her homes. 

Though Saikalis Bay’s personal collection now spans museum-worthy highlights by artists such as Joseph Beuys, Sol Lewitt, Tracey Emin and Phyllida Barlow, she did not acquire her first work from a traditional art gallery. Instead, following the acquisition of a property in London, she visited decorative fairs – her husband is also a collector of vintage Italian furniture. Accordingly, Saikalis Bay’s initial art acquisition was a work by the lesser-known French mid-century painter Pierre Maraval, bought from the Battersea Decorative Fair of antiques and textiles in 2012. 

Other early works included Cornelia Parker’s melted lead bullet and wire Bullet Drawings (Crosshairs) (2016), as well as an edition of Josef Alber’s zinc plate lithograph Shrine (1942) – which Saikalis Bay had on a postcard as a student in Paris.

Including (left, bottom) Omar Fakhouly, (left, top) Ivan de Menis, (centre) Matt Mullican, (right) Emanuele Marcuccio. Photo: Andrea Rossetti. © Saikalis Bay Foundation

Saikalis Bay’s taste soon widened to encompass important Italian artists like Lucio Fontana and Carla Accardi, as well as more contemporary additions like Ryan Sullivan and Lucy Stein. “I have never lost my architectural eye,” she confesses. “Lucy Stein is as figurative as I can go.”

However Saikalis Bay also emphasises that her collection has not remained static. When asked if there has ever been a ‘work that got away’, she speaks of a monumental Günther Förg painting presented at a Christie’s live auction. “If you presented me the same work now,” she says, “I don’t know that I would go for it. Sometimes you do have to accept that the acquisition is not meant to be, and your mind evolves.” 

Nowadays, Saikalis Bay primarily acquires works through her own research and gallery connections rather than auction houses. She is vehemently defensive of the gallery model and refutes speculation that dealerships are becoming increasingly redundant. “When I buy from an artist,” she says, “I want to see who is supporting them. I want to see their shows, and what they have studied.”

Saikalis Bay’s advice to budding art collectors? “Do a lot of research. And fall for things. I always say, if it’s five or ten thousand pounds, fall for things. When it becomes more, study well.” She warns of an artist’s prices suddenly surging in value. “In that case, I’d rather forgo the work. But I am also a very traditional person. I don’t like the hype, and the champagne on the tables. For me, this is more about longevity.”

From Milan to Beyond

Saikalis Bay had never set out to start a foundation, she insists. In fact, it was the culmination of a WhatsApp group, begun by twenty Milanese girlfriends for whom Saikalis Bay arranged international gallery itineraries and exhibition tours. The group naturally expanded its activities over time, until Saikalis Bay and her husband, Matteo Bay, decided to formalise the organisation. 

“You don't create a foundation because you have any fiscal advantage,” the collector insists. Instead, it was a method of consolidating the couple’s increasing artistic involvement and patronage, spanning a series of lockdown exhibitions in the abandoned shops of Milan’s fashion district, as well as support of the Italian Pavilion at the 2022 Biennale di Venezia.

In 2023, they opened a permanent headquarters and project space in Milan, called CIRCOLO. Its most recent exhibition, Shifting the Crossroads, is a celebration of Beirut’s cultural vibrancy despite a history shaped by war and ongoing Israeli attacks in the region. It is a particularly personal venture for Saikalis Bay, who has Greek-Lebanese heritage and grew up in Beirut.

Shifting Crossroads. Beirut Contemporary, 2026 (installation view, CIRCOLO). Photo: Andrea Rossetti. © Saikalis Bay Foundation

During the process of research for the exhibition, Saikalis Bay was struck by links between Lebanon and Italy, stretching back to the introduction of Medici influences to Beirut architecture, as well as Venetian trade with Levantine merchants. At CIRCOLO, artists such as Simone Fattal, Omar Mismar and Mona Hatoum explore the Mediterranean as a space of circulation: through trade and empire as well as culture and resistance.

Nowadays, the Saikalis Bay Foundation is engaged with both its local arts scene and global initiatives. It has held dinners for local commercial ventures such as Francesco Lecci’s Clima gallery, and regularly arranges patron visits to institutions such as Pirelli Hangar Bicocca. The foundation also currently supports an eleven-week, fully-funded residency for Lebanese artists at Gasworks, London, whose most recent recipient was the conceptual artist Omar Mismar, and is soon to announce a similar project elsewhere. 

Though its reach is increasingly global, Saikalis Bay is adamant that the organisation’s goals are consolidated in its Milanese roots. “The foundation was created to be a facilitator of contemporary art,” she explains. “Milan is our vision; Italy is our vision; the internationality of Italy is our vision.” For the collector and patron, art is a vessel for dialogue and community-building, both within one’s local environment and beyond.