Nelson-Atkins Museum to sell $18m Monet
April 2 2024
Picture: news.artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City will be selling an $18m Monet from their collection at Christie's in May.
The ownership of the painting is slightly complicated, as the article linked above explains:
The museum, which only partially owns the work, will put its share of the proceeds towards establishing a new acquisition fund.
The Nelson-Atkins received this riverfront scene from Ethel B. Atha, wife of famed Folgers Coffee salesman Frank P. Atha, in 1986. The trailblazing Impressionist art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel first bought the work from Monet in 1891. It changed hands twice and ended up in the Athas’ possession some 50 years later. Ethel B. Atha donated the painting to the Nelson-Atkins as a partial gift, offering the institution two-thirds ownership while her family retained the final third. Following her death, that share fell to her daughter, Ethelyn Atha Chase, who passed away last September.
The museums Director's Julián Zugazagoitia has expressed that a new acquisitions fund could be useful as it “might identify the Monets of tomorrow.”
