A vast lobby with absolutely nothing in it to tell you that you’re in an art museum – the case with the Broad Museum - is a bridge too far in the other direction. If modern museum architecture is meant to liberate us from distracting decoration, places like the Broad Museum with their stark lobbies may distract anyway, as you wonder where the all the art is.

Certainly the Broad Museum is trendy. More and more collectors are building their own museums to house what they have amassed. And as reported by The Guardian, the British daily, the private owner museums even have their own category known as “Ego-seums.” Reportedly they’re popping up all over the place like China, Mexico, Greece and Australia. Clearly if you can afford millions at auction sales, building your own museum is hardly a quantum leap.

The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg houses the Dali collection of Eleanor and Reynolds Morse. But tagging that museum an ego-seum may not be accurate because the Morse family didn’t attach their name to the place.

In contrast, Eli Broad and his wife Edythe opted to erect a building in their name. Their 2,000-work collection is packed with name brands, including many of the popular bad boys of the art world like Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jeff Koons. By the way, Eli and Edythe bought a 34 works from him! Just what we need, more exhibit space for these guys, right?