So there's this article explaining what a private collection is and there's this sentence that confused me: "A private collection is a privately owned collection of works, usually a collection of art. If seen in a museum alongside a work or describing a work, it signifies that piece of art in a museum is not actually owned by that museum, but is on loan from an independent source, either for the long term or for temporary exhibition. what doesn't make sense to me is when they say "if seen in a museum alongside a work or describing a work." Assuming they're talking about a private collection of works, how can it describe a work? And I know they don't mean "alongside a work or a description of a work" because they use "describing" like it's a verb the subject (collection of works) is performing. So can someone please explain to me what this means?

Work, or works is just a short way of say product of the artist. A common phrase of creative types and their patrons and followers. Does that help?

I understand what the word "work" means, I just don't understand how a collection of works can describe a work

Okay, but still. How can one work describe another work?

If it is part of a collection of many works by the same artist, it is said to describe the theme/style of the artist. This can have many variations depending on how/where or when the works are displayed.

This doesn't have to be limited to one artist, there can be several artist collections on display and each working their own themes or as a collective.

In music, a work, or OPUS, can be a collection of similar pieces. For example, Beethoven's Opus (work) 59 includes string quartet 7, 8 and 9. So a Work can be 1 or more than one.

Okay, I think people don't understand what my question is. I'm not asking for a definition of "work". I'm asking how a work can describe a work as it says in the sentence. "If seen alongside a work or describing a work..."

Allen, you are correct, it's not a very good sentence. The writer should have left out 'or describing a work.'

Usually the wording next to a work of art would be 'from the private collection of Mr. Farber,' not 'from the private collection of works by Mr. Farber,' unless Mr. Farber is the artist, and the work is from his private collection. But that latter phrase is wordy and would most likely be expressed as 'on loan from the artist.'

Thank you so much. I understand now. But one more thing. How come if a private collection of works is next to a work, that signifies it's on loan?

It depends on the museum how much information they want to put on their signs. Usually the fact that it's on loan is a given. But it's rarely simple. There may be some money involved, sort of a rental, especially if the owner didn't really want to lend it. Someone might have died, and the estate is lending it pending a possible donation, or sale to the museum. Sometimes the owner wants anonymity, so no names are given.

Um, that still doesn't really answer my question. I'm still confused. How come if a piece of art is next to or alongside another piece of art, that means it's not owned by the museum? And furthermore, how can a piece of art describe another piece of art? This whole sentence "If seen alongside a work or describing a work, it signifies that piece of art in a museum is not actually owned by that museum." confuses me. I appear to be the only one that feels like there's words missing in it or something. Keep in mind, I'm not asking what the definition of "work" means or about the process of museums getting works on loan.