Wearing a graphic blazer designed in the style of Jean-Michel Basquiat, art collector Leif Hagen points to paintings on the walls of his new gallery in Eagan.

This study of a man, painted with unusually wide brushstrokes, is by a Greek artist in London, he explains. This painting, of a girl carrying a teddy bear on her back, is by an artist in Malawi and incorporates both acrylic paints and African textiles. This one, painted on a pillow-shaped ceramic tile, depicts a man in a Turkish fez hat; Hagen bought it when he was in Istanbul in February.

The gallery, Hagen Hus, is unexpected: It’s smaller than your average bedroom and located on the second floor of an office building, tucked inside the suite that houses Hagen’s day job; he works as a financial planner and insurance advisor. But Hagen Hus showcases several dozen bold and colorful works from more than 15 countries, reflecting Hagen’s eclectic, cross-cultural approach to art curation.

“Normally I wear a suit and tie and am all serious, but this is my fun art persona,” Hagen joked. “I tell my clients, I don’t have a cabin and I don’t have motorcycles, but I have a little art. We all have our own little collections and passions, and art is mine.”

By “a little art,’ of course, Hagen means a lot of art. Beyond the gallery, the office suite could easily contain a hundred individual paintings and artworks nestled together on the walls, Tetris-style. The walls of his home are the exact same way, said Hagen’s partner, Val Oliveira.

“Empty wall space in my book is kind of a sin,” Hagen said. “It’s really kind of a waste, right?”

And every painting has a backstory, with which Hagen will readily regale you. Through buying their art, Hagen has struck up personal friendships with many of the artists whose paintings hang on his walls, and hearing about their backgrounds and day-to-day lives gives the works deeper meaning for him, he said.

It also speaks to Hagen’s decades-long reputation as a devoted pen pal. Growing up in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, he wrote to people all over the world; in 2022, he visited Liechtenstein to mark 40 years of pen-pal friendship with a woman named Monica, an occasion that was covered by the daily Liechtensteiner Vaterland newspaper.

After graduating from St. Olaf College, Hagen spent several years teaching in Switzerland and Japan. He ultimately returned to Minnesota and followed in his father’s and twin brother’s footsteps as a financial advisor. But all along, he collected art, and the opening of Hagen Hus is a dream-come-true moment for him, he said.

Just about all the works on display in the gallery are for sale, and Hagen plans to stage a new exhibition in the gallery every quarter or so. Earlier this month, he spent a week in New York taking a gallery management short-course at Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

“At the end of the day a lot of days, when I’m ready to go home, I take a swing through the office before I turn the lights off,” he said. “It just brings me so much joy and happiness.”

Hagen Hus Gallery, which officially opens April 24, can be visited by appointment only. (Hagen still has to work, after all.) Hagen regularly shares art from his collection on Instagram @nordicartcollector, and the gallery itself is @hagenhusgallery.

Hagen Hus Gallery >> 4640 Nicols Rd., Suite 203, Eagan; hagenhusgallery.com