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European Paintings from the Gulbenkian Collection

October 8, 1950 – May 31, 1951
Main Floor, Southeast Galleries

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: An indefinite loan of 40 paintings from C.S. Gulbenkian covered 4 centuries of European schools. One of the greatest private collections of the 20th century, the paintings had been acquired from the Soviet government, Rothschild families, and other public and private collections. From 1936 to 1950, the paintings, selected by Sir Kenneth Clark, were on view at the National Gallery, London (except for a period during the war). They were under the care of A. Martin de Wild, conservator from The Hague; Fern Rusk Shapley was curator of the exhibition at the Gallery. Following Gulbenkian's death, the collection was turned over to the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on June 7, 1960.

Catalog: European Paintings from the Gulbenkian Collection, by Fern Rusk Shapley. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1950.