The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a transformative addition to its early 20th-century collection with the promised gift of 188 significant works from the Dada and Surrealist movements. The extraordinary donation comes from John Pritzker, a San Francisco-based billionaire private equity manager, museum trustee, and renowned art collector who has assembled one of the world's finest collections of avant-garde art.
The comprehensive gift, known collectively as the Bluff Collection, encompasses works by 37 influential artists who defined these revolutionary art movements. The collection features masterpieces by legendary figures including Man Ray, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Suzanne Duchamp, Jean Arp, Lee Miller, Beatrice Wood, Francis Picabia, and Kurt Schwitters. These artists fundamentally challenged traditional artistic boundaries and redefined what art could be in the modern era.
Among the most significant pieces in Pritzker's donation are 35 works that will be featured in the upcoming major exhibition "Man Ray: When Objects Dream," scheduled to run from September 14 through February 1, 2026. This exhibition will focus specifically on Man Ray's groundbreaking experimentation with rayographs, a photographic technique he pioneered. The show will include some of Man Ray's most iconic and celebrated images, including his famous 1924 photograph "Le violon d'Ingres," which depicts the artist and performer Alice Prin (better known as Kiki de Montparnasse) with violin sound holes superimposed on her back. Another highlight is "Noire et blanche" from 1926, showing the same subject posed while holding a traditional Baule mask from the Ivory Coast.
"I've long been interested in the period between the world wars and the exciting community of artists involved in Dada and Surrealism," Pritzker explained in an official statement. "As I've built the collection, Man Ray has been a central figure, especially as a person who moved between groups and connected ideas. Artists in his circle, such as Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia, were, like Man Ray, instigators and innovators. Together, this group broke down barriers of what defined a painting, sculpture, text or photograph, and more—what art itself could be."
Pritzker's generous contribution extends beyond artworks to include more than 100 books, pamphlets, journals, and other ephemera that provide crucial context for understanding these artistic movements. Additionally, through his John Pritzker Family Fund, he will finance a new research initiative at the Met called the Bluff Collaborative for Research on Dada and Surrealism, which will support scholarly investigations into these influential art movements.
The timing of this gift is particularly significant as it coincides with the Met's ambitious plans for expansion. The museum is currently moving forward with construction of a new $550 million wing dedicated to modern and contemporary art. The Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing, designed by architect Frida Escobedo, represents a historic milestone as Escobedo becomes the first female architect to design a wing in the museum's 155-year history. Construction is expected to begin next year, with completion targeted for 2030.
"This incredible promised gift arrives at a pivotal moment as we expand and invigorate our holdings in preparation for the opening of the Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art, and it further cements the Met as an essential destination for experiencing the full sweep of art history—from antiquity to the art of today," stated Max Hollein, the museum's director and chief executive. "It enhances our ability to offer a profound, more comprehensive view of these outstanding artists and enigmatic trailblazers of Modernism whose bold and influential experimentation across media continues to fascinate and inspire."
Pritzker, who was elected to the Met's board of trustees in 2019, joins a distinguished group of major donors who have significantly enhanced the museum's collections this year. The Pritzker gift represents just one of several blockbuster acquisitions the Met has secured recently. Earlier this spring, the museum received an unprecedented donation of more than 6,500 photographic objects from Artur Walther, one of the world's foremost photography collectors, through his Walther Family Foundation. The museum also acquired a remarkable collection of more than 500 prints by Inuit artists from Nunavut and Nunavik, generously donated by collectors René Balcer and Carolyn Hsu-Balcer. These major gifts collectively position the Metropolitan Museum of Art to offer visitors an even more comprehensive and diverse representation of global artistic achievement across multiple centuries and cultures.
