Robert Lehman - Art Collection

Art Collection

For six decades he built upon an art collection begun by his father in 1911 and devoted a great deal of time and energy as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The importance of his collection became such that in 1957, nearly three hundred works were used for a solo exhibit at the Louvre Museum's Musée de l'Orangerie in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. At that time, his was the only private American collection to be given that honor. In 1968 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University for having "enhanced the civic life, the culture, and the artistic development of our civilization."

After his death in 1969, the Robert Lehman Foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Housed in the Robert Lehman Wing, which opened to the public in 1975, the museum has called it "one of the most extraordinary private art collections ever assembled in the United States". To this day, his Foundation remains active, operating the Robert Lehman Art Lecture Fund and sponsoring exhibitions in museums, both around the U.S. and worldwide. Other philanthropic activities include support for PBS television programming. The Robert Lehman Art Center at Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts is named in his honor.