Donation outstanding of¤339;works at the Musée d’orsay, Le Figaro

A couple of Us will bequeath to France a large collection of paintings estimated at 350 million euros, including Bonnard and Vuillard.

for over 70 years, no French museum had not received such a privilege. A couple of american collectors is going to give France, and more precisely at the Musée d’orsay, its very important collection of works of art, including Bonnard and Vuillard, announced Friday evening the ministry of Culture. “This gift exceptional by its size and its consistency is the most important French museums have received from a foreign donor since 1945″, said the ministry. It is evaluated at 350 million euros currently but it continues to enrich itself, he further stated.

The works will join the Musée d’orsay to the death of the collectors, and the paris hotel they will allocate a dedicated space.

The collection of Spencer and Marlene Hays includes some 600 works from the second half of the Nineteenth century and the first half of the Twentieth century. A first donation of 187 works, estimated at 173 million euros, will be presented Saturday evening at the Elysée palace in the presence of François Hollande. Among the works discounts Saturday, 69 belong to the current nabi (Bonnard, Vuillard, Odilon Redon, Maurice Denis). This artistic movement was founded in 1888 by young independent painters who tried to adapt the symbolic tendencies in the art of painting.

The couple will receive from the hands of François Hollande, the insignia of commander of the Legion of honor

Aged 80 years and been married for sixty years, the couple will receive Saturday from the hands of François Hollande, the insignia of commander of the Legion of honor “for their past life in the service of art and of the beautiful” that they will “share” now “with the largest number “, the ministry said.

This donation crowns the patient efforts of Guy Cogeval, the current president of the Musée d’orsay, which was met in 2001, the couple, with whom he shared his taste for painters nabis.

from a modest background, Spencer Hays began his professional life by going door-to-door in Nashville, Tennessee. If he starts in the business of selling books, this lover of painting, then made a fortune in the textile. A success which has enabled him to acquire an outstanding collection.