Dallas, TX—March 7, 2024— The Dallas Museum of Art is proud to announce the acquisition of 30 paintings, sculptures and works on paper celebrating the legacy of Marie “Elinor” Heins; the works are on view now in From Munch to Kirchner: The Heins Collection of Modern and Expressionist Art. Between 1967 and her death in 2018, Mrs. Heins amassed an impressive collection of modern artwork, which she displayed in her home in Montreux, Switzerland. Cornelia and Ralph Heins, Mrs. Heins’ heirs and Dallas locals, worked closely with Dr. Nicole R. Myers, the DMA’s Chief Curatorial and Research Officer and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Senior Curator of European Art, to thoughtfully select works that both augment and complement the Museum’s important collection of modern European art. The selected works, which include a rare early oil painting by Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch and a series of prints by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, were gifted to the Museum between 2019 and 2023. Most of these works have not been seen outside Mrs. Heins’ home for several decades.
“It is through the support of generous Dallasites like Cornelia and Ralph Heins that we are able to expand our permanent collection and introduce our guests to art by some of the greatest avant-garde artists of the time,” said Dr. Agustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director. “We are grateful for their kindness and for sharing our passion for providing free and accessible art to the people of Dallas.”
The Heins collection is divided between late 19th- and early 20th-century art movements: Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and German Expressionism, Mrs. Heins’ favorite. The exhibition showcases the Heins collection’s great strength in German Expressionism through works on paper by artists such as Otto Dix, Erich Heckel and Emil Nolde, and oil paintings by Alexei Jawlensky and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Two works by Edvard Munch will be exhibited as part of the gift; one is a rare oil painting from 1886, when the artist was experimenting with Impressionist techniques. Works by artists such as Alfred Sisley and Paul Signac bolster the DMA’s already expansive collection of Impressionist art, while a series of six color lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, ranging in subject from performers to a day at the races, augment the DMA’s existing holdings by the Post-Impressionist artist. Although primarily composed of paintings and works on paper, the exhibition also features two fascinating bronzes by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Ernst Barlach. From Munch to Kirchner: The Heins Collection of Modern and Expressionist Art is on view through January 5, 2025, on Level 2 of the DMA and is included in the Museum’s free general admission.
“It’s thrilling to debut such a diverse and exciting range of new acquisitions in our European Art galleries,” said Dr. Nicole R. Myers, the exhibition curator. “Every work from the Heins gift either deepens a strength or expands our reach in underrepresented collection areas through exquisite examples that reflect Elinor’s great collecting eye.”
“Being in the presence of art which I like and which touches me gives me enormous aesthetic pleasure.” –Elinor Heins
Support
From Munch to Kirchner: The Heins Collection of Modern and Expressionist Art is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. Free General Admission to the Dallas Museum of Art is made possible with generous support from the Robert Gerard Pollock Foundation. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by the generosity of DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.