In a moment when so many conversations about art circle around markets—prices, auctions, returns—it feels grounding to remember Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, a retired postal worker and a Brooklyn librarian who built one of the most remarkable collections of postwar art on a pair of modest civil-service salaries. Their story is often told as a charming oddity, but it is something far more instructive: a long, sustained act of devotion that reshaped the lives of artists, the stability of galleries, and the cultural map of this country.

The mid-20th century witnessed a seismic shift in the landscape of American art, with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism marking a departure from European traditions and establishing New York as a new global art center. At the heart of this transformative period were two towering figures: Clement Greenberg, a highly influential art critic whose formalist aesthetic shaped the discourse around modern art, and Jackson Pollock, an artistic innovator who revolutionized painting with his energetic "drip" technique