The Brooklyn Museum is set to receive a significant gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, including a 1916 portrait of French poet and artist Jean Cocteau by Amedeo Modigliani. This generous donation also includes works by renowned artists such as Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Edgar Degas. The collection, consisting of 63 pieces, will be divided among the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Henry Pearlman, the late founder of a cold storage installation company, and his wife Rose, collected these artworks over the years. The foundation stated that the gift was made in line with the couple’s values of sharing their collection for public enjoyment. The collection has been on loan to the Princeton University Art Museum since 1976.
The Pearlman Foundation has carefully allocated the artworks to each institution based on their capabilities and priorities. The Brooklyn Museum will receive 29 pieces, including sculptures and paintings by artists like Chaïm Soutine and Paul Gauguin. MoMA will house 28 works by Cézanne, notably from his “Mont Sainte-Victoire” series. LACMA will receive six artworks, including van Gogh’s “Tarascon Stagecoach,” marking the first piece by the artist to enter the museum’s collection.
Before joining the permanent collections of the museums, the Pearlman works will be featured in an exhibition titled “Village Square: Gifts of Modern Art from the Pearlman Collection.” The show will travel from LACMA to the Brooklyn Museum and then to MoMA at a later date. The foundation has established guidelines with the institutions to facilitate the flexible movement of art among them, aiming to reach new audiences and inspire new models for art ownership.
The generous gift from the Pearlman Foundation not only enriches the collections of these esteemed institutions but also underscores the importance of sharing art with the public for generations to come.
