Artists are collectors by nature and by necessity. We collect artifacts, vistas, animals, or people that serve as models or subject matter. From found objects to other art works, artists also collect for inspiration. The qualities of things teach lessons and nourish us. So many studios serve as private museums, chapels of ephemera and oddities to sustain the Muse.

In 1972 Marcel Broodthaers exhibited Musée d'Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, Section des Figures (Der Adler vom Oligozan bis Heute). This installation housed over 300 representations of eagles from art history and popular culture classified in a pseudo-museological manner—undermining both the mythology of the eagle and the power of the museum. The artifacts were accompanied by numbered labels declaring, "This is not a work of art," in English, French, and German.