Estee Lauder donates billion-dollar collection to Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is going Cubist in a big way — a billion-dollar way — thanks to cosmetics titan Leonard Lauder, USA Today reported.

Lauder, the emeritus chairman of Estée Lauder, a major art collector and philanthropist, pledged Tuesday to give the New York museum his collection of 78 works by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Fernand Léger, believed to be one of the foremost collections of Cubism in the world.


The Met announced the donation, described as a billion-dollar gift by The New York TImes, after the museum board approved it at a meeting this afternoon.


In addition, the museum will set up a new research center for modern art, supported by a $22 million endowment funded by grants from museum trustees and supporters, including Lauder.


Met director Thomas Campbell described the gift, one of the most significant ever to the Met, as "truly transformational" for the museum, which is encyclopedic but not as rich in Cubist artworks.


"Now, Cubism will be represented with some of its greatest masterpieces, demonstrating both its role as the groundbreaking movement of the 20th century and the foundation for an artistic dialogue that continues today," Campbell said in a statement.
Lauder, 80, explained why he picked the Met.


"I feel that it's essential that Cubism — and the art that follows it, for that matter— be seen and studied within the collections of one of the greatest encyclopedic museums in the world," he said in a statement.