The dermatologist Ellen Marmur says she has always appreciated a striking painting or photograph, but she only began collecting art seriously after she learned she had skin cancer in 2006.

“When I got cancer, my philosophy became very much about ‘carpe diem’ and living my best life now,” she said. “Part of that life means collecting beautiful art because art gives me such joy.”

Dr. Marmur , who recently had a recurrence of aggressive but not life-threatening basal-cell cancer, has gathered a sizable collection of contemporary paintings and photography by American artists. Many live in or around New York, including Tara Donovan, a sculptor from Brooklyn who likes to use disposable items like toothpicks and straws in her work; April Gornik, known for her landscape paintings, who resides in Sag Harbor; and another Long Island resident, Zu Sheng Yu, a Chinese artist who focuses on oil paintings and sculptures.

Dr. Marmur, 50, lives in a light-flooded, white-walled Upper East Side apartment looking out on the East River with her husband, Jonathan Marmur, 60, the chief of cardiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, their children: J onah; 22 Julien, 15; Sasha, 14; and Ezra, 12 .