Egon Schiele DER AKT (NUDE) 1910

Otto Dix KUPPLERIN (THE MADAM) 1923

Gilbert & George THREE WAYS 1984

For many collectors, as evidenced by Walker, who in 1879 opened his home to establish the Midwest's first public art gallery, the personal pleasure of the activity is combined with their allegiance to a community or an institution, and they eventually donate their holdings to a public museum. This means that the collecting habits of individuals in any given region can clearly be seen in the galleries of its museums; at the same time, the mission and connoisseurship of museums can help guide collectors to new areas of interest. This natural symbiosis between the individual's urge to accumulate and the museum's mandate to preserve has been crucial in securing the world's cultural production for the enjoyment of future audiences.

Pablo Picasso BUSTE DE FEMME D'APRES CRANACH LE JEUNE 1958

Francisco Clemente I 1982

Georg Baselitz GLASTRINKER (GLASS DRINKER) 1981

As an appreciative nod to both our founder and the arts patrons in our area, The Cities Collect celebrates the important role collectors have played in the creative life of our community with a selection of works from many of the superb metro-area collections of modern and contemporary art. Many of the collectors represented support not only the Walker but other area museums--the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Weisman Art Museum, the Minnesota Museum of American Art. The extraordinary range of works on view illustrates a variety of moments and locations in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art: early Modernist experiments such as German Expressionism, Synchronism, and Fauvism; mid-century abstraction, Minimalism, and Pop Art; work by regionally based artists; postwar experimental printmaking and high Modernist photography; and very recent pieces by an international sampling of young practitioners. Paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, and drawings will be included. This rich variety of work will serve to highlight the breadth of commitment Twin Cities collectors have shown to the art of our time.