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Immaculate Concept

Inside an art collector’s gallery-like Rosedale home By Ariel Brewster

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Elisa Nuyten and her husband, David Dime, an organic chemist, have been serious art collectors for only six years. Yet they already have more than 30 contemporary pieces installed on the three floors of their Rosedale home, which they share with their three school-aged kids and two pets. While the façade of the house is neo-Georgian, the interior is fastidiously spare. “The moment I saw this house, I knew it could be totally gutted,” says Nuyten. After they moved in, they tore out the mouldings and small windows and opened up the dark, cramped rooms.

As they started collecting, Nuyten and Dime found they both gravitated toward conceptual art. “It’s not about decor,” she says. “It’s about the conversation each piece has in the context of the room.”

Nuyten worked in fashion before becoming a full-time mom, and her love of the arts is rubbing off on her children, who have accompanied her to international art fairs. “They like having a house full of art more than they will admit,” says Nuyten. “My son is 13 now, but when he was a little younger he used to give little art tours to anyone who came over.” Preserving an uncluttered space is increasingly important to Nuyten as their at-home gallery grows: “I only buy pieces that I know I’ll love forever.”


Photographs by Michael Graydon

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