TIME100 Art Honorees Toast to Imagination, Inspiration, and Influence Across Generations

In his speech, Bogdanos toasted to the fellow art-crime fighters in the world, claiming that whatever he has accomplished in his career has been only because of the “courage, passion, and dedication” of people across the world working with him.

“You should share the passion and action of his time, Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, ‘at peril of being judged not to have lived.’” I can tell you from having worked with these people for decades now, Justice Holmes would be proud of them, and so am I, and I hope now so are you,” Bogdanos said.

He then toasted to the cultural artifacts he works to find and repatriate, each of which he says is a “living breathing testimony to our shared cultural heritage.”

“I have seen them work their cathartic spell across cultures, across ethnicities, across religion,” he said.

This shared heritage that we are reminded of in these artifacts provides healing in a divisive world, Bogdanos added.