Nuriel and Audrey Molcho's, and their son Ilay's apartment is full of treasures - big names meet the most personal things. There's a lot happening - just like in the couple's own life: whether it's managing the family business NENI, Nuriel's hatmaking business, photography, content creation or everyday life with a child. Audrey and Nuriel like it colourful - and live like it. Without hierarchies, Instagram discoveries are hung alongside big shots in street art in the classic period building along the stately corridor gallery. In the living room, a Klimt print coexists next to tribal art from Morocco. Anything special is given a room - be it the grandfather's drawing pencil or a shrunk balloon with a backstory.

On your website you write, Nuriel, ‘Art is part of my life’. In which facets does this manifest itself in your work? 
Nuriel: Everything can be art, depending on how you look at it. You can see your life as a work of art and simply say that you are always working on yourself, that it develops depending on who perceives it. A beautiful bouquet of flowers can be art. For me, art is something that evokes emotions. And it can be beautiful or not beautiful, but it has to provoke a reaction in you. And I feel that people who live an emotionally charged life - with ups and downs - are people who also like to surround themselves with art.

Your collection is very personal, like an album of memories. Does it also show the twists and turns in your biography? 
Audrey: Yes, definitely. Nuriel was definitely the one to start collecting art. It used to be a lot more playful, it was a lot more colourful, a lot of street art - art that can quickly captivate you because it's also a bit louder. That has changed over time. We are not attached to anything for the rest of our lives, we sell and use the money to buy something new that better reflects on our current situation.

Have your tastes developed similarly or are there major differences?
A: I was never a street art fan. It was a bit too pop for me. When I met him, he was just street art. That was a bit much for me. But now - I like this mix. I'm more eclectic and I also like the stories he tells. So I don't like one particular thing, but the stories behind are important to me. Our collection reflects this much more now. Whether it's drawings of my grandfather or a poster advertising Nuriel's father's first performance as a mime - we've framed and hung absurd things.

What's the most absurd thing? 
N: A dog balloon! I always wanted a dachshund - in theory, but not in practice. Then Audrey gave me one for my 30th birthday. Well, not a real one, but an inflated balloon dachshund. It somehow survived forever. It slowly got smaller, sadder and sadder, but it was still there. After three or four years, I said: OK, he's lived with us for so long now - we'll deflate him and frame him. Now it really does look like a work of art - almost like a Jeff Koons.

Your own art is also hanging in the new apartment. 
N: I didn't hang my own art for a long time - it was only through an exhibition a few years ago that I realised how the pictures look off the screen when they are printed large. Many of my favourite analogue photos hardly get any response on Instagram - but at the exhibition, it was precisely these works that attracted people. This year I exhibited again, in a friend's apartment. And that's when I realised: I want to see my own art in my own home. I asked many artists whether they live with their own works - and almost all of them said yes. Because you can feel how a painting changes in everyday life, how it works. We now have some of my paintings hanging in our home. And it's often the ones that visitors react to immediately - like the Tokyo picture. It went completely unnoticed on Instagram. But in the right context, it suddenly tells a story. My current favourite picture is hanging in the kitchen: a long-exposure photo of a Royal Guard in India.

When you look back: Did you first see yourself as an artist or as a viewer, a consumer of art? 
N: I've actually always been interested in art. My father is an artist - he supported me early on and also encouraged me to use art as a form of expression. At school, I chose art as one of my main subjects, but my abstract works were rejected by an examiner who was focussed on old masters. That unsettled me for a long time. I stopped making art myself and saw myself more as an observer. I wanted to be inspired - but no longer produce art myself. It was only years later that I found my way back to art. And only now, almost 20 years later, is it hanging on the wall again.

What role did art play in your childhood, Audrey?
A: Everyone in our family was an artist. My mother was an opera singer, my father a conductor, my grandmother a tap dancer and actress, my grandfather drew cartoons for Walt Disney. There was really only art in our house. I hardly received any conventional cultural education, but I was surrounded by creativity right from the start. At the age of six, I had Iranian bellydancing classes, Chinese painting classes - and went to a Chinese opera on a Saturday. It was almost absurd how much art I absorbed.

How do you pass this on to your son? Does he already have art in his room?
A: Yes, my grandfather's animation drawings hang in his room. And I love going to the museum with him. Vienna's art history museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum) is perfect, there are pictures of dogs and lions everywhere. Just learning to enjoy observing, that's what I want to encourage. A few weeks ago, I caught him sitting quietly on the floor of a friend's living room and I asked: What are you doing now? There were ten very colourful works of art by musicians. And he just said: I'm looking at the art. 

How actively do you go to galleries and art fairs and get advice?
A: Not at all anymore, we used to do that, but now we only go to exhibitions and not to art fairs at all. 
N: You get overloaded at art fairs - it's too much. The artworks have always found us somehow. 

What about studio visits? 
Both: We really enjoy doing that. Direct dialogue with artists is important to us. We're currently planning a project with TOMAK for the first time - we're going to paint hats with him.

How do you feel about the so-called art world? 
A: I find that difficult. The art world has to exist - especially for the artists. They depend on it financially. This whole business, the ‘dirty business’ behind it, is part of it. But as a consumer, you want to pretend it doesn't exist. You want to romanticise it. But that's not realistic. I'm not really that involved in the art world myself.

N: I also think you have to take the whole thing with a pinch of humour - with a light touch. Otherwise it quickly becomes elitist. Then it's suddenly about: Do you know the artist? And this one? There are so many names - at some point you can't make heads or tails of it and just feel lost. And then you think to yourself: I don't want to be taught anything. For me, art is something emotional, something beautiful, something that triggers something in you. It should come into your life and be able to leave again - as it suits you. But yes, some people are too serious about it.

You say that art is also allowed to leave. So you also sell works again and again?
N: I'm someone who likes to sell art and hang it up again and again. Otherwise you just tire of it - at some point a picture becomes wallpaper. If you reposition it or replace something, you are immediately able to see it in a new light. And sometimes it's also about letting go. Maybe someone else is really happy about it - for them the work is new, special and becomes part of their life. I think art should wander. It should bring joy. I don't understand when people just store and hoard art. Art needs to be seen and experienced. 

How big is your current collection?
A: I don't know exactly - the collection is all here, in the apartment. Maybe about 50 works. But it's hard to say.
N: Nothing here is standard. The lamps, the table, everything is a work of art. Everything is somehow collected - often from flea markets. But everything is curated.

What was the last thing you bought? 
N: A print by Klimt at the Artziwna Gallery. It was a present we made to ourselves when we moved into our new apartment. The motif of the three generations - child, mother, grandmother - was also a good fit, Ilay had just been born. Living in Vienna with a Klimt feels very special, we love it. 

The collection actually started with street art, but it's hardly present here in the apartment anymore. 
N: I started with street art when I was studying in London. Back then, you saw art on the street - and you could buy a print for the equivalent of 100 euros. That was my start: instead of spending money on going out, I bought prints and had them framed. I found it exciting how some of these artists developed - I was later able to sell some works for a profit. Once I almost bought a Banksy for £500 - that was too much for me at the time. Today, that's no longer my thing and I sell to collectors for whom it's a better fit.

That's a good example of how a young collector can find access to buying art - especially if they don't yet understand the topic of value development. 
N: Young buyers should have the courage to simply look for artists on Instagram and also go to art schools.

Audrey, you just went along with Nuriel? 
A: Yes, the world of fine art was completely unfamiliar to me. Nuriel took me everywhere, to exhibitions and galleries. It was overwhelming at first, it's a lot of input. Before, the art that surrounded me was simply my family history - every piece on our walls was from my grandfather or my grandparents' friends.
N: My parents, for example, don't buy art at all. But they grew up with Arik Brauer, Hundertwasser and Fuchs and simply only have pictures by them at home because they were given to them as gifts. But they never bought anything. It was a great honour for us when we received a work by Arik Brauer as a wedding present, which now hangs above our bed.

If you could travel back now, what advice would you give to your younger collector self? 
A: It's difficult - you could invest more wisely when it comes to finances. But that's just not how we work. For us it was always clear: it's about art that makes us happy. 

Is there a work that reflects this attitude particularly well for you?
N: The painting by Wolfgang Grinschgl, for example - that was the most expensive thing I ever bought back then. But I've always been someone who makes deals. I've always been a good marketer, had a strong network - and I love bartering. Maybe that's also because we come from the catering industry. It was never like that for me: This is what it costs, so I'll pay for it. There always has to be a story behind it. I ask: What kind of deal can we make? I want you to get what you deserve - but maybe I can do something good for you in another way. Then it's worthwhile for everyone.

You once said, Nuriel, that if you could buy anything, you would choose a Cy Twombly - is that still relevant? 
N: Yes, I love Cy Twombly. 

And what would you choose, Audrey? 
A: For me, it would probably be a Monet. 

Looking through your apartment, one also notices tribal art - did you bring the African masks back from travelling, or what is their story? 
N: One is from the Naschmarkt in Vienna, the other from Morocco, where we got married. Living with such a mixture of art is something I saw in André Heller's work and it inspired me a lot. In his house in Morocco, he staged many masks together with contemporary art – he had the notion to hang a Basquiat behind it.

Is there anything else you would like to finish this conversation with? 
N: You should support artists - as a matter of principle. Because they contribute something beautiful to the world. I think you should live with art. And you should also discover your own inner artist. I once heard: ‘The artist is the child that never died’. Everyone should keep this child within them. Everyone should somehow create art, live art, buy art, promote art. There are few things in life that are as special as that. So: Embrace it!

Interview: Paula Watzl/PARNASS
Photos: Christoph Liebentritt