Meet Our Founder
Every great collection begins with a conversation.
For Hadley Powell, those conversations are at the heart of why she founded Powell Fine Art Advisory.
Art, she believes, should spark dialogue. About its provenance, the artist’s story, and the way it transforms a space. Living with art should be meaningful, joyful, and personal - never intimidating. With that vision in mind, Hadley set out to demystify the art world and bring art into more homes. On the cusp of Powell Fine Art Advisory’s 10 year anniversary, we thought it would be a good time to reintroduce our founder, Hadley Powell.
Originally from Maine, Hadley’s career began at Christie’s in New York, where she worked on everything from Rembrandt etchings to Rauschenberg screenprints. She later joined the Impressionist & Modern Art department, helping clients navigate major evening sales and learning what it really takes to guide people through high-stakes decisions.
Christie’s laid the foundation for Hadley’s career and gave her the skills to branch out on her own. Armed with deep expertise and a passion for connecting people and art, Hadley founded Powell Fine Art Advisory to give collectors, gallerists, and artists a partner who could make the process transparent, collaborative, and above all, human.
Her approach blends scholarship (she holds a BA in Art History and Economics from Union College, plus a Master’s in Modern Art and the History of the Art Market) with intuition. She’s just as comfortable mapping out a long-term collection strategy as she is helping a client fall in love with a work they’ll treasure for life. Because provenance is just as important as the feeling you get standing in front of a piece of art you truly love for an inexplicable reason.
Her ability to understand what resonates with someone, whether it’s a blue-chip painting or the first acquisition in a budding collection, makes the process feel special, personal, and easy. Finding the right piece of art should be fun. And with Hadley, it is.
Hadley splits her time between Boston and Northeast Harbor, Maine, but wherever she is, she’s deeply connected to the cultural community. She serves on boards and committees at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Land and Garden Preserve and Nichols House Museum.
And when she’s not in the thick of art fairs, installations, or museum board meetings? You might find her reading The New Yorker with an iced matcha latte in hand, sneaking in a game of backgammon, or walking around Jamaica Pond, her favorite hidden corner of Boston, with her two daughters, Garrett and Aster.
For Hadley, collecting art isn’t just about acquisition, it’s about creating connections, shaping spaces, and sparking joy. She founded Powell Fine Art Advisory so that collectors of all levels could experience that feeling with the support of someone who knows the art world inside and out. At the end of the day, what Hadley loves most is helping people discover the works that make their lives richer.
Learn about the whole Powell Fine Art Team here.
Favorite quote: Georgia O’Keeffe - “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way - things I had no words for.”
Favorite Museum Restaurant: Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie, NYC (inspired by the great Viennese cafes of 20th century Austria)
Astrological sign: Aries
Favorite hotel: Hotel Il Pellicano, Tuscany
Favorite piece of all time: Impossible to choose, but a few key works that were seminal in me falling in love with fine art and art history:
Winged Victory of Samothrace
Gustav Klimt, Park at Kammer Castle
Vincent Van Gogh, Roses (I audibly gasped when I saw this again at the MET last spring)
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi
