American collectors make d’Orsay Museum the largest donation since World War II

PARIS. Two collectors from the United States, Spencer and Marlene Hays, donated the Musée d’Orsay to their personal art collection. This donation was the largest for France since World War II - more than 600 paintings from the late XIX - early XX centuries, including works by Pierre Bonnard, Eduard Vuillard, Amedeo Modigliani and Henri Matisse.

Negotiations on the transfer of the collection were at the highest level, directly with the country’s leadership. An agreement with the French state was signed at a ceremony in the Champs Elysees, during which President Francois Hollande awarded both spouses the rank of commander of the Legion of Honor.

In 2013, 187 works worth 173 million euros (188 million dollars) from a private collection of spouses were presented in the museum as part of the exhibition “Passion for France: the Marlene and Spencer Hays Collection” (A Passion for France: The Marlene and Spencer Hays Collection). In full, the collection will be transferred to France after the death of the couple, and the Museum d’Orsay agreed to exhibit it completely in a separate space, without distributing the work throughout the gallery. The Hayes collection is especially valuable in the work of post-impressionists, including Bonnard, Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon, Aristide Mayol and Andre Derain. It includes the masterpieces of Edgar Degas and Koro.

Spencer Hayes is the founder of the Tom James Company, which manufactures custom-made clothing. He grew up in Oklahoma. The couple engaged in the collection of works of art in the early 1970s. “We did not have the necessary education, so we bought what we like,” said Spencer Hayes. “We never bought anything for profit, we did not sell a single painting from our collection.”

They first visited France in 1971 and have since returned there every year. “We both grew up in small towns,” Spencer Hayes said in an interview with Franceinfo radio. “We didn’t have any money, and the only thing I knew about Paris and France was that a city with that name was in Texas, 70 kilometers from where I lived.”

In 2001, the couple acquired a portrait of Chaim Soutine by Modigliani. The artist painted it in 1917 right on the door. Speaking about this picture, Marlene Hayes said: “I think they were both dead drunk, and Modigliani simply did not find another canvas.” Spencer Hayes’ favorite artist is Vuillard: “I like his special way in painting, his colors, the flatness of some of his compositions.”

The entire art collection is stored in a New York apartment and in Nashville, Tennessee, where they built a copy of the Hotel de Noirmoutier, the former residence of the prefect of Ile de France, located in the sixth arrondissement of Paris. The fate of the collection has been discussed for almost ten years. The options were different - to leave paintings in the USA, to sell, donating proceeds to charity. In the end, it was decided to transfer the entire collection to one of the largest museums in France.

“It was a very painful journey, but we succeeded,” said Guy Cogeval, director of the Musee d’Orsay, whose personal friendship with the Hayes spouses played a key role in determining the fate of the collection. Gogeval met the couple in 2001, when he was the director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and since then they have maintained close relations.

In April 2016, Hayes met with the French Minister of Culture, Audrey Azoulay. “We told her that we decided to transfer all our art to the French people,” said Spencer Hayes. “The only thing we wanted to be sure of was that all the paintings would be placed in one place, that not a single painting would be sold or put away in storage, the collection should be exhibited in full.”

Negotiations with American museums spouses Hayes did not conduct. “There are museums in the United States that could meet our conditions, but we felt that the collection should belong to France, for many reasons, including because it was all the work of French artists,” said Spencer Hayes. "America is better versed in entrepreneurship, and France - in the teaching of culture, in understanding its importance." “For a very long time I felt guilty about this, but then I realized that a huge number of Americans would be able to see the paintings at the Museum d’Orsay,” continued Marlene Hayes. In fact, about four million people visit the d’Orsay Museum every year, with a third being tourists from the United States.

After signing the transfer agreement, the collection came into the possession of the French government, but the Hayes couple retained the right to use it in life. Transfer of paintings will be carried out in stages, after the museum management has prepared the hall necessary for their placement.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru