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Yemisi Shyllon

Yemisi Shyllon collects Nigerian and West African art from historic to contemporary, with about 7,000 works held through his art foundation, created in 2007. He gave more than 1,000 works and a grant to establish the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art at Pan-Atlantic University near Lagos. The museum was described as Nigeria's first privately funded university museum.

Artists named in the collection

El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, Lamidi Fakeye, Adeola Balogun, Peju Alatise, Victor Ehikhamenor, Uche Okeke, Aina Onabolu

On record

  • The museum opened in October 2019 on the Lekki peninsula east of Lagos.
  • His foundation granted about $1.7 million towards the museum, as reported by the Financial Times via The Art Newspaper.
  • The museum is operated by Pan-Atlantic University.

Institutional roles

  • Benefactor, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Pan-Atlantic University

Questions

What does Yemisi Shyllon collect?Yemisi Shyllon collects Nigerian and West African art from historic to contemporary, with about 7,000 works held through his art foundation, created in 2007. He gave more than 1,000 works and a grant to establish the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art at Pan-Atlantic University near Lagos. The museum was described as Nigeria's first privately funded university museum.

Which artists are in the Yemisi Shyllon collection?Cited sources name works by El Anatsui, Ben Enwonwu, Lamidi Fakeye, Adeola Balogun, Peju Alatise, Victor Ehikhamenor, Uche Okeke, Aina Onabolu.

Can the public see the collection of Yemisi Shyllon?Yes. Works are shown at Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art in Lagos, Nigeria.

Sources

  1. Yoruba prince donates more than 1,000 works of art to establish university museum in Nigeria, The Art Newspaper, 2019
  2. An Educational Collection, Contemporary And
  3. Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Wikipedia

Last verified 2026-10-31.

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