The Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland are about to see their collections bolstered. London art dealer Anthony D'Offay announced that he would be giving a collection of 725 works of modern art to the galleries at their original ticket price. Estimated at a value of £125 million, D'Offay is asking for the £28 million he originally paid for the pieces. His reason? He's doing it for the kids.
The collection will be part of a project called Artists Rooms and will travel around the UK with an emphasis on exposing the young'uns to modern art. The donation will also be filling in gaps in the collections at the Tate and NGS with works by the under represented photographers Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe as well as Jeff Koons.
Other artists include Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhardt Richter, and a handful by Damien Hirst (sorry, no diamond skull). Where would the world be without madcap philanthropists?
By Amanda Farah
Image of an example of Joseph Beuys work courtesy of cattoo's Flickrstream.
