For Art’s Sake: Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh Get New Digs in Cardiff

11-16-2010

 

National Museum Wales Welcomes Davies Sisters’ Collection Home from USA

 

New York, New York -  November 16, 2010 -- The element of surprise is among the delights of travel, especially when that surprise is happening upon some of the world’s most celebrated French Impressionist and post-Impressionist artworks – in Wales.  The Davies Sisters’ Collection, which includes Renoir’s La Parisienne, Monet’s Rouen Cathedral and Van Gogh’s Rain-Auvers has been welcomed to a new home in Cardiff after delighting museum-goers around the USA during an 18-month tour under the banner “From Turner to Cezanne – Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales.”

 

With the recent opening of seven new art galleries at the National Museum Cardiff, part of a 6.5 million pound investment in the National Museum of Art for Wales, the world’s second largest collection, second only to Paris, of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art can now be displayed in all its splendor.

 

The Davies sisters of Mid Wales, granddaughters of Welsh industrialist and philanthropist David Davies, are to thank for Wales’ prominent 19^th-century French art holdings. The two sisters, Gwendoline and Margaret, were among the first to purchase works by Corot, Honore Daumier and Millet, quickly establishing themselves as highly-regarded art patrons. The sisters collected the equivalent of $12-million worth of art before stopping in 1913 to pursue other charitable activities, including volunteering with the Red Cross in Troyes, France.

 

Not content to be mere collectors, they established a center at Gregynog Hall “to bring art, music and creative skills to the people of Wales in the aftermath of World War I. The house was full of music, fine furniture and ceramics, hand-printed books from the Gregynog Press and the sisters’ collection of Impressionist art. Personalities such as George Bernard Shaw visited for concerts and conferences –or simply to enjoy the beautiful gardens and woodland walks.” (http://www.wales.ac.uk/en/UniversityConferenceCentre/History.aspx )

 

Throughout their lives, the Davies sisters remained steadfast in their commitment to advancing the study, practice and appreciation of art in Wales.  To this end, they donated 260 paintings and works on paper to the National Museum of Wales including works by Turner, Millet, Corot, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Rodin, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Modigliani, Magritte and Cezanne. 

 

The National Museum Cardiff is one of the National Museums of Wales.  All of the National Museums of Wales have free admission. Please check out http://www.museumwales.ac.uk  and plan to be surprised and delighted.

 

For more information about Wales visit www.visitwales.com.

 

 

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