Leonard Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics company, gave the Metropolitan Museum of works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Fernand Leger - a total of 78 works. This is one of the most generous donation in the history of

Leonard Lauder
Source: forbes.com

Leonard Lauder, heir to the cosmetics corporation Estee Lauder, made one of the most generous donations to the museum of history. 80-year-old billionaire has presented the New York Metropolitan Museum one of the world's finest collections of works of Cubism, estimated by Forbes in $ 1.1 billion. The collection includes 78 works: 33 works by Pablo Picasso, 17 works by Georges Braque, Juan Gris 14 works and 14 - Fernand Léger. Lauder collection going on for 37 years.

explained Leonard Lauder, he chose the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the art of the Cubists and their followers were studied based on the collection of one of the most diverse museums. Until Lauder gift this direction has been under-represented in the collections of the Metropolitan, but now Cubism here to represent it the best examples. Museum director Thomas Campbell called it a turning point in its history.

Donation Lauder put it on par with the greatest philanthropists of all time. In addition to Estee Lauder's son, only 23 people in the world have ever done in his lifetime donations of over $ 1 billion. Among them, such as Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg, George Lucas and others (for a complete list of the great philanthropists can be found at Online Forbes ).

of donated paintings - Picasso "Sink" (1912) "The woman in the chair" (1913), "Veer" (1911), works by Georges Braque, "Trees in l'Estake" (1908), "The terrace and the hotel Mistral" (1907), "A plate of fruit and a glass" (1912) and "Violin" (1912). Leonard Lauder collection will debut at the Met in the exhibition, planned for autumn 2014.

Prepared Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources : forbes.com , bbc.co.uk , telegraph.co.uk , artinvestment.ru