Carl Thomas is 77 years old, a billionaire and one of the most prominent art collectors in Dallas. Together with his wife Marilynn, whom he met while studying at Oklahoma State University, he has amassed an art collection remarkable not only for its scale but also for its geographic, historical and stylistic breadth. Thomas’ areas span a wide range of disciplines and include Japanese bamboo pieces, Spanish colonial portraits, Native American art, and an extensive collection of digital art. The latter is currently Carl’s favorite genre: “I’m drawn to where art is going. Experimental, digital, time-based work that’s redefining the boundaries of the medium,” he tells the Observer.
Most Dallas art lovers are familiar with it Thomas Foundation through the Dallas Art Fair — his most recent exhibit, “The Presence of Absence: The Embodied Portrait,” opened concurrently with the fair last April. The Cedar Springs building dates back to 1921, the elevator that transports visitors to the foundation’s headquarters is from the 1950s, yet the installation art that greets guests as they enter the premises is ultra-contemporary. In the adjacent gallery, separated by a glass wall, 18th-century portraits gaze out at the viewer, creating a dialogue between past and present.
This is the third exhibition the foundation has presented in Dallas and will remain open until next year’s Dallas Art Fair. The show manages to bring together a very heterogeneous collection coherently. Whether through the lens of digitization, indigenous voices or post-war Western artists, it explores issues of individuality, authenticity and self-determination, featuring works by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Hito Steyerl AND Jeffrey Gibson. The sparkling rosé from the couple’s Oregon vineyard, Van Duzer, served at the opening definitely enhanced the experience. I met the caring and engaged foundation staff who work alongside Thomas at the foundation’s headquarters. Carl showed me one of his favorite works at the moment, Talking to my Jaguar face BY Eamon Ore-Giron (2024), a colorful geometric painting that explores sacred indigenous objects from the Americas.
The Thoma Foundation has only been open since 2023, two years after the couple moved from Chicago. However, it already looks like Dallas is becoming “Thoma Town,” according to a museum publicist Taylor Mayad Powell put it. Both of its patrons, the Meadows Museum of Spanish Art at SMU and the Crow Museum of Asian Art, are showing works from the Thoma Foundation this year. “Spectacles of Power and Faith” opens on August 23, 2026 and brings together 63 paintings of colonial South America. This is a passion project of Marilynn’s; with a total of about 250 pieces, it is one of the largest collections of Spanish colonial art outside of Latin America. Meanwhile, Crow will present pieces of the Thoma Japanese bamboo collection at its Dallas Arts District location this November—also one of the largest in the world, with some 300 pieces.
Superlatives seem to abound when it comes to Thomas, which makes the couple’s move to Texas, where everything is so much bigger, all the more fitting. Carl explains their motivation behind the move as follows: “Dallas is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and that energy was appealing. A community that is actively shaping its future, with a strong and collaborative network of art collectors, institutions and supporters.” And was the move worth it? “What we found exceeded our expectations,” Carl says of the city. “The matrons here are ambitious and open-minded. There is real room for experimentation.”
Speaking of art patrons: many cultivate an air of whimsy, projecting an image of instinct-driven decision-making. Collectors at this level are often known to be obsessed with a particular artist or haunted by a masterpiece they passed on before its value increased. Carl, on the other hand, makes the acquisition of art sound like a matter of calm and precision—methodical rather than emotional. Asked about his favorite works of art, he replies, “Like children, there are no favorites.” He describes his wife’s and his buying habits as “straightforward: we collect what we like,” and adds what I might have guessed: “We don’t collect according to the art market.”
When I ask Karl about a dream piece of art he’s been chasing, he tells me he doesn’t have one. He doesn’t even regret the parts that got away: “We make our decisions carefully and with real intent. When you approach it that way, there’s not much room for regret.” Carl, who is co-founder of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, seems at ease with his decisions – a rather unusual state of affairs for someone operating within the volatile, competitive and often dramatic ecosystem that is the art world. Pragmatism and stoicism are not traits often associated with collectors of this caliber, but whatever the origins of this approach to art patronage, it’s hard not to admire. For Thoma, the gathering is “a responsibility to make sure that the (arts) experience is not reserved for the few.” One of the first collection managers Maegan Robson the mention of her boss is as follows: “It should be illegal to buy art and not display it in public.” For Carl, collecting is a kind of mission: “You become a serious collector when you understand your role as a caretaker, not an owner.”
Is there still room to relax in the Thoma family? “The real dream is to make it (the collection) accessible, seeing it travel to regional, national, international museums and reach as many people as possible,” admits Carl. The couple also oversees the Thoma Scholars Program, which gives access to higher education to “promising rural and first-generation students with financial need” throughout Northwest Oklahoma, West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Through their partnerships with Texas Tech University and Oklahoma State University, Thomas covers attendance and provides “mentoring, leadership development and long-term guidance,” as Carl explains. “Education is at the heart of everything we do. Building a collection is only one part of it. The most lasting work is sharing it and helping the next generation find their way,” he concludes.
Carl and Marilynn have acquired art for more than half a century: they began collecting shortly after graduating from Stanford in 1975 and today own over 1,700 pieces, with museums such as LACMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Dallas Museum of Art lending works from their collection. They don’t seem to be slowing down, either—in addition to maintaining a Santa Fe showroom with rotating displays, they recently launched First Fridays at their Dallas foundation, where the space is open to the public on the first Friday of every month from noon to 3 p.m.
However, it’s not just the couple’s commitment to philanthropy that makes them compelling. The strength of their collection lies in its deliberate focus on lesser-known artists and generally overlooked areas and periods of art—Japanese bamboo, portraits from Spanish America—and in making them available to the public. The Thoma Foundation is a great asset to Dallas and, thankfully, Carl has no regrets about moving here.
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