The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation to Gift Its Collectionto MoMA, LACMA, and the Brooklyn Museum

 The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation has announced that its entire collection will be gifted to three major institutions: the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Comprising an exceptional group of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and modern artworks, the Pearlman Collection will be gifted across the three institutions in a novel sharing arrangement that will enhance access to larger and more diverse audiences through continually changing contexts. Henry Pearlman (1895–1974) began purchasing avant-garde art in 1945 with a landscape by Chaïm Soutine, which led to a selfguided education in 19th- and 20th-century European art and a passion for collecting that endured for the rest of his life. From the very start of this collection, he and his wife, Rose, maintained a fundamental interest in sharing their experience of art as widely as possible, instilling populist values in their children and grandchildren that are the Foundation’s inspiration for making this extraordinary gift.

As part of this gift, 29 works will join the Brooklyn Museum’s collection, with exceptional paintings and sculpture by Chaïm Soutine, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, and Amedeo Modigliani, includingThe Brooklyn Museum will receive

 The sacred grove (1884) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 

After the bath, woman drying herself (c.1890) by Edgar Degas, 

Portrait of Jean Cocteau (1916) by Amedeo Modigliani 

and Path to the fountain (c.1920) by Chaim Soutine. 

LACMA will receive six works, including 

Edouard Manet’s Young Woman in a Round Hat (c. 1877–79), and

Vincent van Gogh, Tarascon Stagecoach, 1888, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation.

Vincent van Gogh’s Tarascon Stagecoach from 1888, the first paintings by either artist to enter the collection

MoMA will receive 28 works. Highlights include Paul Cézanne’s Mount Sainte-Victoire (c.1904-1906), Cistern in the park of Château Noir (c.1900)  as well as 15 of Cézanne’s most luminous watercolors:

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, c. 1904–06, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

and Cistern in the Park of Château Noir (c. 1900), as well as 15 of Cézanne’s most luminous watercolors. 

Paul Cézanne, Cistern in the Park of Château Noir (c. 1900), promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

 

Paul Cézanne, Chemin des Lauves: The Turn in the Road, 1904–06, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Three Pears (Trois poires), ca. 1888–90, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Forest Path (Chemin sous bois), ca. 1904–06, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, House in Provence (Maison en Provence), 1890–94, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Rocks at Bibémus (Rochers de Bibémus), ca. 1887–90, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Study of a Skull (Etude de crâne), 1902–04, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Fountain, Place de la Mairie in Aix-en-Provence (La fontaine de la place de la mairie à Aix-en-Provence), ca. 1900, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Carafe, Bottle, and Fruit (Nature morte avec carafe, bouteille, et fruits), 1906, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

 

Paul Cézanne, Aeneas Meeting Dido at Carthage (Enée rencontrant Didon à Carthage), ca. 1875, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, photo by Bruce White

French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950

 

• August 5, 2025–January 4, 2026

  Harn Museum of Art

  Gainesville, Florida
• January 30–May 24, 2026

  Birmingham Museum of Art

  Alabama
• June 19–October 11, 2026

  Frick Pittsburgh

  Pennsylvania

• 
  

The blockbuster exhibition, chosen for display during the Harn’s 35th Anniversary, showcases more than 55 paintings, drawings and sculptures from the Brooklyn Museum’s esteemed collection of European art. Ranging widely in scale, subject matter and style, and encompassing the key avant-garde movements that emerged in and around Paris from 1850 to 1950, the works on view were produced by some of the era’s leading artists. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 4, 2026.

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Rising Tide at Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas, 26 x 32 in. (66 x 81.3cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer, 41.1260. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

“Touring since 2017 to venues in Italy, South Korea, Canada and the United States, the Harn is grateful to our generous donors who have made it possible to bring these masterpieces to the Harn for visitors to enjoy free of charge,” said Dr. Lee Anne Chesterfield, Harn Museum of Art Director. “We are also excited to have added to the exhibition, the Harn’s very own work by Monet, Champ d’avoine (Oat Field), celebrating the growth of our collection and 35 years of art-centered experiences.”

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917).The Age of Bronze, medium-sized model, first reduction, 1876; cast 1967. Bronze,41 ¼ x 15 x 13 in. (104.8 x 38.1 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum,Gift of B. Gerald Cantor, 68.49. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

The works of art in French Moderns, organized by the Brooklyn Museum, span the era between the Revolution of 1848 and the conclusion of World War II—a period marked by significant social, intellectual and political upheaval in France. This era saw the emergence of avant-garde artistic movements including Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism, which left a lasting impact on the Western artistic tradition. These key movements are represented in the exhibition through remarkable examples by the era’s leading artists, including Pierre Bonnard, Gustave Caillebotte, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Gabriele Münter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin and others.

Image: Berthe Morisot (French, 1841–1895). “Madame Boursier and Her Daughter,” circa 1873. Oil on canvas, 29 5/16 x 22 3/8 in. (74.5 x 56.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 29.30. (Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum)

“French Moderns offers remarkable examples of European art and is the most significant exhibition of French modern art to travel to Gainesville,” said Dulce Román, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern Art at the Harn Museum of Art. “I am delighted that we are able to bring a portion of the Brooklyn Museum’s exceptional collection to the Gainesville community, University of Florida, surrounding areas, and tourists to explore and appreciate.”

Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894). Apple Tree in Bloom, 1885. Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 23 5/8 in. (73.3 x 60 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of William K. Jacobs, Jr., 1992.107.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum).

The exhibition is organized into four sections: Landscape, Still Life, Portraits and Figures, and The Nude. Beginning with the landscapes of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and the birth of plein-air (outdoor) painting, the exhibition surveys the innovative styles and techniques developed by artists from the Realism of Gustave Courbet, to the light and atmosphere of Monet and the Impressionists, to the Surrealism of Yves Tanguy. The works explore major new forms of representation and abstraction forged in France over the span of a century.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Still Life with Blue Cup, circa 1900. Oil on canvas, 6 x 13 1/8 in. (15.2 x 33.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Laura L. Barnes, 67.24.19. (Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum)

French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950 is organized by Lisa Small, Senior Curator of European Art, and Richard Aste, former Curator of European Art, Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue including thematic essays and interpretive object entries by the exhibition’s co-curators.

VIDEO

Gustav Klimt, the MAK, and Immendorf Castle: Burnt, Destroyed, Vanished?

 8 May 1945 not only marks the end of the Second World War and of the Nazi regime, but also stands for one of the greatest losses in cultural assets in Austrian history, triggered by a devastating fire that ravaged Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria. The 80th anniversary of these events occurs in 2025, reason enough for the MAK and the non-profit Klimt Foundation to mount an exhibition on the subject of Gustav Klimt, the MAK, and Immendorf Castle: Burnt, Destroyed, Vanished? 

Even today, the events surrounding the fire in the country seat of the Freudenthal family, which served as a valuable and seemingly safe art storage depot in the Second World War, have not been fully clarified. The exhibition offers profound insight into the sheer scale of the disaster. First mentioned in the 13th century, the castle was used from 1942 onwards as a place to store works of art in need of protection from the effects of war. The owner at the time, Baron Rudolf von Freudenthal, made rooms available for this purpose. 

Some sources suggest that the castle was deliberately set on fire by German troops—presumably the SS—in May 1945 in order to deprive the Red Army of the stored art objects. However, there is still no clear evidence of this to this day. Nor is it proven that Soviet soldiers were involved. Similarly—based on the facts as they stand—the occasional statements that individual Klimt paintings may have been removed from storage before the fire cannot be confirmed. 

In addition to the three faculty paintings for the Main Ceremonial Hall of the University of Vienna with the corresponding composition designs, the works that were burned include the overdoor paintings Music (1897/98) and Schubert at the Piano (1899) from the Palais of Nikolaus Dumba on Vienna’s Ringstraße as well as the paintings The Golden Apple Tree (1903), Farm 2 Garden with Crucifix (1912), Portrait of Wally (1916), Women Friends (1916/17), Garden Path with Chickens (1916), and Leda (1917) from the expropriated collection of August and Serena Lederer. The State Arts and Crafts Museum in Vienna (now the MAK) lost to the flames: the Laxenburg Room stored in Immendorf Castle, various East Asian and Islamic objects, arts and crafts from the early modern period, over fifty pieces of furniture, leather wallpaper, twelve carpets, and the Möchling Tomb, a wooden shrine carved in the shape of a Gothic church from the 15th century. 

Alongside original plans and a new architectural model of the castle, the exhibition will show a new film documentary on the events at Immendorf Castle with interviews with witnesses of the period. The film was directed and written by Peter Weinhäupl, Director of the Klimt Foundation, Vienna, and Stefan Kutzenberger, art historian and author. The film was made by the Danish filmmaker Rikke Kutzenberger. “Masterpieces of Reproduction Art,” which come from the valuable Klimt portfolios published in 1908–1914, 1917/18, and 1931, illustrate, partly in color, the inestimable loss of several original Klimt paintings. 

The Klimt Foundation is making available these and other loans from its collection. Original documents such as recovery lists kept at the MAK and valuable archive material from the Austrian Federal Monuments Office, the archive of the Künstlerhaus Vienna, and the Lower Austrian Provincial Library provide further profound insights into the events surrounding the supposedly safe rescue site of Immendorf Castle and enable an overall picture based on facts.

IMAGES

The fire ruins of Schloss Immendorf, ca. 1950 Private collection
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Postcard “Schloss Immendorf”, ca. 1940 Klimt-Foundation, Vienna
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Jurisprudence, 1903
Photogravure from the portfolio The Work of Gustav Klimt, published by Kunstverlag Hugo Heller, Vienna/Leipzig, 1917/18
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Philosophy, 1900−1907
Photogravure from the portfolio The Work of Gustav Klimt, published by Kunstverlag Hugo Heller, Vienna/Leipzig, 1917/18
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Medicine, 1900−1907
Photogravure from the portfolio The Work of Gustav Klimt, published by Kunstverlag Hugo Heller, Vienna/Leipzig, 1917/18
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Women Friends II, 1916/17
Color collotype from the portfolio Gustav Klimt. A Review, published by Max Eisler, Druck und Verlag
der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, 1931
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Hygieia—detail from the faculty painting Medicine, 1900−1907 Color collotype from the portfolio Gustav Klimt. A Review,
published by Max Eisler, Druck und Verlag
der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, 1931
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, Garden Path with Chickens, 1916
Color collotype from the portfolio Gustav Klimt. A Review, published by Max Eisler, Druck und Verlag
der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei, Vienna, 1931
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna