This book tells the fascinating life story of Manuela Alexejew through her extensive collection
of paintings sculpture and antiques among which she lives with her husband Carlos Brandl in a
grand loft in Berlin. Featuring works by artists as varied as Otto Dix Otto Piene George
Condo Allen Jones Yayoi Kusama and Alicja Kwade (to name but a few) it is one of Germany's
most distinguished private collections of modern and contemporary art. Manuela Alexejew's life
reads like fiction: with enviable looks she first worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am
during the glamorous height of the airline industry collecting eclectic experiences across the
globe-from partying with Sophia Loren at the legendary Studio 54 to relaxed days at Oscar de
la Renta's home in Santo Domingo. Alexejew then returned to her roots: art. Having studied at
Berlin's University of Fine Arts she now committed herself to collecting with an earnest
passion each acquisition based on her personal connection with the work never with investment
in mind. Based on a series of intimate and amusing interviews with Alexejew author and
journalist Thomas Kausch has written down her surprising story from her own perspective.
Combined with newly-commissioned photos of the collection by Andrea Ferrari It's not about the
money is a rare insight into the normally closed world of a great collector. This book tells
the fascinating life story of Manuela Alexejew through her extensive collection of paintings
sculpture and antiques among which she lives with her husband Carlos Brandl in a grand loft in
Berlin. Featuring works by artists as varied as Otto Dix Otto Piene George Condo Allen Jones
Yayoi Kusama and Alicja Kwade (to name but a few) it is one of Germany's most distinguished
private collections of modern and contemporary art. Manuela Alexejew's life reads like fiction:
with enviable looks she first worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am during the glamorous
height of the airline industry collecting eclectic experiences across the globe-from partying
with Sophia Loren at the legendary Studio 54 to relaxed days at Oscar de la Renta's home in
Santo Domingo. Alexejew then returned to her roots: art. Having studied at Berlin's University
of Fine Arts she now committed herself to collecting with an earnest passion each acquisition
based on her personal connection with the work never with investment in mind. Based on a
series of intimate and amusing interviews with Alexejew author and journalist Thomas Kausch
has written down her surprising story from her own perspective. Combined with
newly-commissioned photos of the collection by Andrea Ferrari It's not about the money is a
rare insight into the normally closed world of a great collector.
