Twenty-two works of art, including two by Pablo Picasso, have been donated to the St. Louis Art Museum.
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The donation is the latest from Emily Rauh Pulitzer, who has given dozens of paintings and millions of dollars to the museum over the years. Experts have not put a price tag on the latest donation, but similar items have fetched more than $200 million at auction, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
The collection includes works from 17 artists, including Picasso, Andy Warhol, Joan Miro, and others. Museum officials called it the most significant gift in the 142-year history of the museum.
“These are all masterpieces, ranging from the early 20th-century cubism of Braque to the late 20th-century minimalism of Kelly and the pop-art of Warhol,” museum director Min Jung Kim said in a statement.
“These works are, by themselves, an art historical primer,” she added. “They will become part of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s permanent collection and, joining other works given by the Pulitzer family, will cement this institution’s reputation as one of the premier art museums anywhere.”
Picasso, Warhol Pieces
The works from Picasso are “Woman in a Red Hat,” an oil on canvas painted in 1934, and “Head of a Woman,” a 1962 linocut in colors.
Kim said she was once told that the only way to create a great public museum is to acquire great private collections. That is what has happened here, she said.
“The St. Louis Art Museum will be forever in her debt,” Kim said.
Pulitzer said she hopes the public finds the pieces meaningful and “as enriching in their lives as they have been in mine.”
The two Warhol items include a 6-foot self portrait from 1967, as well as his famous screen print of Marilyn Monroe, also from that same year.
Transforming The Museum
Kim said all 22 works will have a “transformative impact on the museum’s collection.” She pointed to a sculpture by Brancusi and painting by Miro as examples of styles and artists not represented in the museum.
There is no timeline for when the donations will arrive at the museum for public viewing. The museum said the pieces will be transferred “at or before Mrs. Pulitzer’s death, as she chooses.”
Pulitzer, 88, said, “It’s possible there will be some works on loan fairly soon.”
The Complete Donation
The complete list of works to be donated includes:
- Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, “Mask of Beethoven”, c. 1905. Bronze with brown patina, partially gilded, hollow mask form (sand cast); 16 9/16 x 11 3/4 x 6 inches
- Constantin Brancusi, “Mademoiselle Pogany III”, 1933. Polished bronze, limestone, and wood; Bronze: 17 1/2 x 7 x 9 1/2 inches; Limestone base: 9 x 9 1/2 x 9 inches; Wooden pedestal: 37 5/8 x 15 x 15 inches
- Georges Braque, “The Mantelpiece”, 1921-1922. Oil with sand on canvas; 51 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches
- Alberto Giacometti, “Portrait of Isabel”, 1937. Bronze; 11 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 9 inches
- Philip Guston, “Dark Room”, 1978. Oil on canvas. 68 x 80 inches
- Rachel Harrison, “Sculpture with Raincoat”, 2012. Wood, styrofoam, cement, acrylic, hanger, The Economist, and Gherardini raincoat; 68 x 27 x 20 1/2 inches
- Rachel Harrison, “Photograph”, 2020. Pigmented inkjet print; 12 x 16 inches
Gary Hill, “Liminal Objects #8”, 1998. Single channel video installation (table, chairs, curtain); 45 x 16 x 16 inches - Ellsworth Kelly, “Untitled”, 1988. Oil on canvas; 110 1/2 x 110 1/2 inches
- Ellsworth Kelly, “Briar”, 1960. Graphite on paper; 28 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches
- Joan Miró, “Painting”, 1953. Oil on canvas; 96 1/2 x 67 inches
- Joan Miró, “48”, 1927. Oil and aqueous medium on glue-sized canvas; 57 1/2 x 45 inches
- Pablo Picasso, “Woman in a Red Hat”, 1934. Oil on canvas; 57 5/8 x 44 3/4 inches
- Pablo Picasso, “Head of a Woman”, 1962. Linocut in colors; 25 1/4 x 21 inches
- Henry Peach Robinson, “Portal of a Church”. Photograph
- Medardo Rosso, “The Golden Age”, 1886. Pigmented wax over plaster; 14 1/2 x 18 3/4 x 6 inches
- Georges Rouault, “Three Clowns”, 1917. Oil on paper laid down on canvas; 41 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches
- Richard Serra, “Model for Twain”, 1982. Corten steel; 5 1/2 x 59 3/4 x 64 3/4 inches
- Gedi Sibony, “The Other Great Abundance”, 2014. Aluminum semi-trailer; 96 1/4 × 75 inches
- Richard Tuttle, “New Mexico, New York #2”, 1998. Acrylic on fir plywood; Irregular: 19 x 24 inches
- Andy Warhol, “Self Portrait”, 1967. Synthetic polymer paint silkscreened, brushed, and stenciled on canvas; 72 x 72 inches
- Andy Warhol, “Marilyn Monroe”, 1967. Screen print; 35 1/4 x 35 1/4 inches
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