In Good Hands

Ralph Burnet may have made his name in real estate, but the Lake Minnetonka home he and his wife, Peggy, share never made it on the market. Ken and Judy Dayton, the home’s previous owners, chose the Burnets to be stewards of their contemporary architectural gem. “They invited me over one Sunday morning,” Ralph recalls, “and over coffee told me they were moving and wanted Peggy and me to be the next keepers of this home. They weren’t concerned about maximizing the price they could get; they wanted caretakers.”

The two couples were united by friendship and a passion for contemporary art. But, whereas the Daytons collected Lichtensteins and Warhols, the avant-garde artists of their generation, the Burnets collect thought-provoking, often controversial works, by today’s Young British Artists, including Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, and Gary Hum. Turned on to the artists’ work at Walker Art Center’s 1995 Brilliant show, the couple, who opens their home for tours and lends pieces to museums, now ranks with Elton John and David Bowie among the world’s premier collectors of YBA works. The Burnets offered us a glimpse into their home on their thirty-eighth wedding anniversary, which they celebrated quietly that evening over salads at Wayzata’s Gianni’s.

EXTREME HIRST: Damien Hirst’s art, Ralph says, fluctuates between two extremes—the morbidity of death or the beauty of life. “You get the dot paintings or you get the skeletons; you get beautiful butterflies or you get flies.”

HANG TIME: “[Walker Art Center chief curator] Richard Flood in my opinion is one of the best in the country at hanging an exhibition,” Peggy says. “Before we moved in, he and I came over with a bottle of wine and photographs of every piece of art we own. In a series of two nights, we placed all the pieces. After that initial installation, Ralph and I have a really good yin and yang as to where to put things.”

DOWNSIZING: “I’m so minimalist,” Peggy says. “For me, it’s ‘Take away one more thing, please.’ For example, I love the dining room with its views of the lake, but I think the chairs really distract from it. Plus, we only formally entertain a very small fraction of the time, so we don’t need a lot of seating and furniture.”

RELAX MUCH?: “Certainly not at Timberwolves games!” says Ralph, a team minority owner. “We travel, always incorporating art. With art, you’re always learning—it’s so educational.”

SMALL-TOWN LIFE: “Wayzata is a lovely little town, and I believe strong community support has kept us vibrant,” Peggy says of The Bookcase, an independent bookstore she owns with daughter Stephanie Burnet Ott. “When we partnered with Caribou Coffee, our tagline was ‘The place for friends to meet,’ and I believe it’s become known as that kind of community spot.”

BIG-CITY BUZZ: “I’d say we’re fourth as a cultural center in this country, after New York, San Francisco, and Chicago,” says Ralph, who’s a primary partner in Minneapolis’s Chamber Hotel, set to open in late 2005. “We have more culture and art than most cities with six or seven million. It’s such a generous community, and that makes this a great place.”