Degas to Matisse

Maurice Wertheim, a graduate of Harvard College (Class of 1906), approached the collecting of art with disciplined enthusiasm. Although he did not purchase a major painting until 1956, when he had already turned fifty, within two or three years he had made himself a major contender in the field. In the next decade and a half he succeeded in assembling one of the most remarkable and focused collections of modern European art in this country. At his death in 1950, Maurice Wertheim bequeathed his collection to Harvard for "the benefit and use of the Fogg Art Museum." Since 1974 the collection has been permanently installed in the museum, where it has given pleasure and instruction to numerous students and scholars as well as to many visitors. In recognition of the importance of the extraordinary paintings and sculptures in the collection, the galleries where they are installed were completely redesigned in 1986 to provide a more spacious and congenial setting in which to be seen.