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Sandra Hegedüs
Founding President of SAM Art Projects, President of the Villa Arson
Portuguese, English, French
Speciality: Multidisciplinary
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Sandra Hegedüs studied philosophy and cinema at the prestigious Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP). A militant artist on the Paulist scene, she produced several performances in the early 1980s before arriving in France in 1990, where she developed an activity as a producer of reports and documentary films. Her taste for art led her to build up a collection of contemporary art in 2005. The desire to be more involved in supporting artistic creation naturally led her to patronage.
In 2009, she created SAM Art Projects, which aims to promote the work of foreign artists in France and French artists abroad through residencies and the awarding of a prize. With a view to exchange and dialogue, the projects encouraged link the Parisian art scene to countries outside the usual circuits of the art world.
A passionate woman, as spontaneous as she is determined, Sandra Hegedüs belongs to this new generation of activist collectors who have made their mark on the French landscape in recent years, creating bold philanthropic projects, supporting the talents of tomorrow and patronizing ambitious projects beyond̀ borders. Like its collection, the artistic creations it supports do not respond to a concern for the market, but to an acute attention to the new visions of the world that artists bring.
Thanks to her contagious energy and her ability to surround herself with loyal supporters and experts, she manages to federate important financial and human resources to help the artists realize their projects, bringing them visibility and recognition.
In 2018, her commitment was rewarded́ with the 27th MontBlanc Prize for Culture Art Patronage. The philathropist was thus recognized for her work in supporting international artistic exchanges, creating bridges between Europe and non-Western countries. In 2020, she was named Officer of the Legion of Honor by the French Minister of Culture Franck Riester.
