Füsun Eczacıbaşı (born Füsun Alpsoy) is an architect, art collector, and patron of the arts from Turkey. She is the co-founder and chairperson of the SAHA Association for the Arts.[1]
Füsun Eczacıbaşı attended Kadikoy Maarif College and the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. She received her MSc in architecture in 1986.
Eczacıbaşı has been actively involved in many NGOs focusing on human rights, minority rights, nature preservation, and education. She is married to Faruk Eczacıbaşı, vice chairperson of Eczacıbaşı Holding, with whom she shares an enthusiasm for the arts. Their collection has been expanding since the late 1980s and focuses on contemporary art by emerging and established contemporary artists from Turkey and abroad. Füsun and Faruk Eczacıbaşı have two sons: Sinan (born in 1991) and Murat (born in 1995).
Eczacıbaşı is co-founder and chair of the SAHA Association[2] in Istanbul, a non-profit organization that supports contemporary art production. She describes the Association, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in September 2021, as a place where philanthropists meet intending to show solidarity with the art community from Turkey.[3]
She is also co-chair of the New Museum International Leadership Council and a member of New Museum Board of Trustees[4] in New York City. Other art organizations she supports are the Global Patrons Council of Art Basel; International Friends of Castello di Rivoli, Turin; International Friends of Documenta, Kassel; International Council of Centre Pompidou, Paris; International Companions of Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, and Tate International Council Advisory Board, London.
In February 2022, the Madrid-based Callia Foundation awarded Eczacıbaşı the International Patron Award. The award is supported by Queen Sophia of Spain, who attended the ceremony and presented the awards.[4]