“We have always held that a collector of art is merely a custodian who is serving posterity.” So said Chester Dale of the extensive art collection that he and his wife, Maud, had collected. At one point they had over 700 pieces in their collection. They had no children “My pictures are like a family. Each one has a special niche in my heart.”Sentiments like that are quite common for art collectors and the role collectors play in the history of art is often underestimated. It is they who determine through donations or loans to museums what will become to be regarded as fine art.
The couple fell out with several galleries but eventually left the bulk of their collection to the National Gallery in Washington . A director has described the collection “the whole rib structure of the modern French school here”. So much so that For the past 45 years, the Dale paintings were not shown as an ensemble, because it would have left too many blank spaces on the museum’s walls.
Recent renovations of the Washington National Gallery have meant that 81 works from the Dale’s “family” have been reunited until the summer of 2011. The stunning collection, which includes twelve Picassos, is called “From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection” can be seen at the National Gallery, Washington, DC, until July 31, 2011. The collection is a reflection of the passion both Chester and Maude had for their art. Even during the 1929 stock market collapse, when Chester’s fortune fell from $60 million dollars to $10 million dollars, they continued acquiring art with the same zeal they had always had. His most expensive purchase was at about this time. He paid $250,000 for a single painting. This was an enormous sum at the time
