Most corporate collections get talked about in the language of legacy and prestige. Stefan Hundt’s account of the Sanlam Art Collection doesn’t sound like that at all.

On paper, the job looks impressive enough. Sanlam started collecting in 1965 with twelve paintings bought for a prestigious calendar. There are now more than 2,000 works, valued conservatively at R205 million. Hundt has curated the collection since 1997 and added around five hundred works himself. Ask him what the job actually involves, though, and you get a very different picture.