London’s National Gallery, home of Western masterpieces from the 13th to early 20th centuries, will build a new wing to accommodate an “expanded collection” with an infusion of £375 million (~$500 million) in private donations. The project marks the most significant transformation of the museum since its founding in 1824.
The new wing will create flexible and permanent galleries that will integrate “modern-day acquisitions” and works created “in the Western tradition” before 1900, a spokesperson for the institution told Hyperallergic.
The museum announced on September 9 that it had received two cash pledges of £150 million (~$200 million) from the family foundation of Wales-born billionaire Michael Moritz and the trust of the late British philanthropist Julia Rausing for the expansion initiative, known as “Project Domani.” According to a press release, the pledges are the two single largest publicly reported donations to any museum in the world.
An additional £75 million (~$100 million) came from the National Gallery Trust, donors from the museum’s board, and anonymous contributors.
The National Gallery’s collection includes Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” (1888), Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious 15th-century “Virgin of the Rocks,” Jan van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Portrait” (1434), and notable works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Raphael, Cézanne, Monet, and others.
Pablo Picasso’s 1914 oil painting “Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin” (© Succession of Picasso / DACS)
Several news outlets reported that the new wing signaled the National Gallery’s intention to begin collecting works of modern art for the first time. This would mark a departure from a longstanding agreement establishing that the National Gallery would not collect works created after 1900, leaving this period to the Tate, its younger counterpart comprising four museums. However, the National Gallery’s announcement of Project Domani does not contain any promise to begin acquiring modern and contemporary art, and alludes only to a vague “ever-closer collaboration with [the] Tate.” The two institutions, the press release says, have already established a working group to discuss artwork loans and the development of the National Gallery’s “new displays.”
A spokesperson for the National Gallery did not directly confirm whether the museum would begin collecting modern and contemporary art, but said that it currently possesses a small group of 25 works created after 1900, including Pablo Picasso’s 1914 oil painting “Fruit Dish, Bottle and Violin.”
An image of the location scouted on the National Gallery’s estate for the new wing (© Purcell)
The National Gallery spokesperson rejected the idea that the new wing would be exclusively for modern artworks. Instead, they said, the creation of a new wing would allow “recent modern-day acquisitions to be integrated within, rather than appended to the history of painting in the Western tradition.”
The Guardian reported that the prospect of the National Gallery collecting past the early 1900s could cause contention between the institution and the Tate Modern over the scope of each museum’s artistic dominion, citing anonymous senior sources. The Tate’s director, Maria Balshaw, said in a statement that trustees and curatorial teams from both institutions will meet to discuss collaborations. Hyperallergic has contacted the Tate for further comment.
As a first step in Project Domani, the National Gallery said it would launch an international architectural competition to build a completely new museum wing to house its expanded collection. The new wing will be built on the St. Vincent House property, which the institution acquired 30 years ago and is part of its present-day campus.
The spokesperson told Hyperallergic that the new wing would open sometime in the “early 2030s.”
