Rau Collection at Tennessee State Museum

Tuesday, 30 August 2005 11:47

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.-An art exhibition featuring 95 rarely seen paintings from one of the world’s most significant private collections just opened at the Tennessee State Museum. The State Museum will be the only museum in the Southeastern United States to exhibit the Rau Collection: Six Centuries with the European Masters, and is the last venue before the exhibition returns to Europe. The exhibit,showcases rarely seen masterpieces by Monet, Renoir, Degas, El Greco, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Cézanne, Pissarro, Cassatt and others. “The Rau Collection is a virtual stroll through six centuries of art history,” said Lois Riggins-Ezzell, executive director of the Tennessee State Museum. “We are providing the people of our region with a singular opportunity to experience magnificent work by some of the world’s greatest artists.” Among the highlights of the exhibition are: Six paintings by Claude Monet, including The Wooden Bridge; Fra Angelico’s Saint Nicholas of Bari and Saint Michael; Paul Cézanne’s The Sea at L’Estaque; Auguste Renoir’s Woman with a Rose; Canaletto’s Saint Mark’s Square; El Greco’s Saint Dominic in Prayer; Camille Pissarro’s The Courthouse at Pontoise; Riggins-Ezzell said, “This is truly an all-star lineup of the European masters from several countries, representing the beginnings of European painting in early Renaissance up to the mid-20th century, including French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods. " The 95 paintings represent a selection of works of art acquired by Dr. Gustav Rau (1922-2002). Dr. Rau was a German doctor and philanthropist, who amassed his exceptional collection from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. In 2001 right before his death, Dr. Rau willed his entire collection to UNICEF of Germany with the stipulation that it eventually be sold to raise funds for Third World philanthropy. When presented at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, the exhibition drew a record attendance of 300,000, and was declared by the French media to be the best art exhibition of the year 2000.

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