From the Mongolian steppes to the international art world
Uuganbayar Amgalanbayar, Countryside, oil on canvas
Mongolian Art Gallery preserves, presents and promotes modern and contemporary Mongolian painting for audiences beyond its borders. Working directly with artists in Ulaanbaatar and across the country, the gallery has built one of the most comprehensive private collections of modern Mongolian art — and carried it to exhibitions, galleries and private collections around the world.
A cultural bridge between Mongolia and the world
The gallery exists to give Mongolian artists a lasting place in the international conversation — not through a single exhibition or sale, but through relationships maintained over years. Its work rests on four commitments.
The gallery story
The beginning of the collection
The first works were gathered at a moment when many gifted Mongolian painters had little access to the world beyond the country. Early collaborations were built on trust and a shared conviction that this artistic heritage deserved a wider audience.
Dolgor Ser-Od, Holidays For Friends, 2005 — one of the first works to enter the collection
First international exhibitions
The paintings began to travel. Curated exhibitions abroad introduced Mongolia's landscapes, culture and identity to viewers encountering this work for the first time.
Batjargal Tseintsogzol, Eagle Hunter, 2008 — shown from London to the New York art fairs
A living archive of Mongolian art
The collection now holds more than 1,670 original paintings by 108 artists — among the most comprehensive private selections of modern Mongolian art. Each work records a passage: an artist finding a voice, a culture finding new horizons.
Bazo Dugarsuren, Rounded Composition 1, 2009
Randolph & Elisabeth Koppa
Randolph and Elisabeth Koppa — husband and wife — are the founders and curators of Mongolian Art Gallery and its parent, Valiant Art Gallery in Ulaanbaatar. Together they built the collection through long, patient work with individual artists, selecting paintings by a simple measure — whether they would hang them in their own home.
The Valiant founders were the first collection owners to take Mongolian art to the world — the first international exhibition took place in Dubai in 2006. Since then the Koppas have organised exhibitions in cities including New York, London, Milan, Beijing and Dublin, and describe the work as a long-term investment in artists rather than a matter of individual sales.
Mongolian art is very special because of its direct and unpretentious expression. It is exactly this quality that makes it so captivating for collectors.
The international journey
Between 2006 and 2016 the gallery showed Mongolian painting across three continents — a sustained programme of international exhibitions and art fairs that placed these artists in galleries and private collections worldwide.