[2] Werner Dannheisser (1909–1992) and Elaine married and initially collected French painting such as Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, Maurice Utrillo and Fernand Léger.
In the 1980s the Dannheissers sold their French painting collection and began to purchase contemporary art from Soho and East Village galleries.
There they held an extensive collection of contemporary art, including work by Bruce Nauman, Brice Marden and Robert Gober.
Their taste ran to art of severe formality or startling graphic intensity, from the minimalist sculpture of Carl Andre and Richard Serra, the austere paintings of Robert Ryman, and the conceptual art projects of Felix Gonzalez-Torres to the staged photographs of Cindy Sherman.
Other artists in the collection at one time or another included Mark Innerst, Jeff Koons, Matthew Barney, Joseph Nechvatal, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Tom Otterness, Joseph Beuys, Tony Cragg, Katharina Fritsch, Anselm Kiefer, and Sigmar Polke.