National Galleries gifted share of £125m modern art collection

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2008 12:19

A MODERN art collection worth £125 million was today secured by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate Museums.

In an unparalleled move, art dealer Anthony d'Offay has effectively given 725 works to the people of Britain.

The collection – which includes works by Damian Hirst, Jeff Koons Ron Mueck, Andy Warhol and Diane Arbus – has been valued by both Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses at 125m.

Mr d'Offay will receive 26.5 million in the part gift/part sale agreement, which represents the original cost of the works.

The works will be grouped by theme to form new modern collections. These "artist rooms" will tour galleries across the UK, giving the public greater access than ever before to one of the world's largest collections of post-war and contemporary art.

The collection is 50 rooms of art by 25 artists and the first displays will be launched in spring/summer 2009 at the National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate Galleries in London.

Sir Brian Ivory CBE, chairman of the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, said: "It would have been impossible for us to ever dream of putting together a collection like this without such an astonishingly generous gift," he said.

"The annual spending budget of the National Galleries is 1.25m and so in effect it would have taken us more than 100 years to come close to purchasing a collection like this.

"Quite apart from that however it is a simple fact that collections like this do not come up for sale and so what has happened today is truly extraordinary."

John Leighton director of the National Galleries of Scotland said: "Anthony d'Offay's immense generosity and powerful vision lie behind this innovative partnership at a stroke our level of ambition has been raised to a new height and there is now the potential to bring great modern art to our publics not just in Edinburgh and London but right across the country."

Mr d'Offay was born in Sheffield in 1940 and studied art at Edinburgh University, graduating in 1962. While there he fell in love with the collections of the National Gallery of Scotland and years later described walking around the galleries on The Mound as "the defining experience of my life".

He has been involved with several important exhibitions in Edinburgh, including the two recent major Festival exhibitions at the Royal Scottish Academy that showcased the work of Ron Mueck, in 2006, and last year's Andy Warhol exhibition.

At the announcement today at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, Mr d'Offay said: "It was a great privilege to be here. This wouldn't have been possible without the work of so many people and it has been a privilege to participate in putting together this collection."

The cost of the works has been met through a 10m donation from the Scottish Government, 10m from the British Government, a 7m donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and 1m from the Art Fund.