Major Bequest to the National Gallery and the Tate
by Zoe Strimpel
Mon, 29 Oct 2007 at 7:10 PM
updated Mon, 29 Oct 2007 at 7:25 PM
One of the biggest bequests of paintings ever to take place in Britain was announced Monday. The Honorable Simon Sainsbury (1930-2006), great-grandson of the Sainsbury's supermarket baron, left 18 paintings from his international and British art collection to the Tate and the National Gallery. Works by Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Rousseau will go to the National Gallery, and the Tate will receive 13 works by Francis Bacon (one of the most profitable artists at auction just now), Balthus, Pierre Bonnard, Lucian Freud, Thomas Gainsborough, Victor Pasmore, John Wootton, and Johan Zoffany.
The director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota, said: "This is one of the most important gifts in the history of Tate and bears comparison with the Frank Stoop Bequest in the 1930s. The sheer variety of works gifted will enhance many different areas of the Tate Collection." Stoop donated paintings by Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani that formed the core of the international art collection and remain key works in the gallery.
The National's gift includes Monet's "Snow Scene at Argenteuil" (1875) and Degas's "After the Bath" (1896), a late female nude based on a photograph by the artist. The Tate received Bacon's "Study for a Portrait" (1952) and three Freuds: "Girl with a Kitten" (a portrait of his first wife), "Boy Smoking," and "The Painter's Mother."
The Tate will show the whole collection in a show this summer, after which it will be divided between the two museums.
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