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$100 Million Impressionist Gift for Denver
The Denver Art Museum is set to announce Monday the largest donation in its history—a gift of 22 paintings worth more than $100 million that will nearly triple the size of its Impressionist collection.
The gift, bequeathed by Denver philanthropist Frederic Hamilton, includes what will be the museum's first Vincent van Gogh canvas, "Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies," as well as four works by Claude Monet and paintings by masters such as Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet and Auguste Renoir.
"It's a game changer," said museum director Christoph Heinrich. "It adds a lot of value and prestige to the museum."
The gift, which increases the museum's tally of Monet canvases to six, makes this one of the strongest Impressionist collections in the West, Mr. Heinrich said. It's still no rival to institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, whose Impressionist collections can compete with those of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
In addition, the museum aims to enhance its Impressionist collection with new acquisitions, said Mr. Heinrich, who plans to raise money for the paintings because the museum has no dedicated fund for such purchases.
The Denver Art Museum is set to announce Monday the largest donation in its history—a gift of 22 paintings worth more than $100 million that will nearly triple the size of its Impressionist collection.
The gift, bequeathed by Denver philanthropist Frederic Hamilton, includes what will be the museum's first Vincent van Gogh canvas, "Edge of a Wheat Field with Poppies," as well as four works by Claude Monet and paintings by masters such as Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet and Auguste Renoir.
"It's a game changer," said museum director Christoph Heinrich. "It adds a lot of value and prestige to the museum."
The gift, which increases the museum's tally of Monet canvases to six, makes this one of the strongest Impressionist collections in the West, Mr. Heinrich said. It's still no rival to institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, whose Impressionist collections can compete with those of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
In addition, the museum aims to enhance its Impressionist collection with new acquisitions, said Mr. Heinrich, who plans to raise money for the paintings because the museum has no dedicated fund for such purchases.
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