Sainsbury art bequest of £100m goes to National and Tate galleries

Sainsbury art bequest of £100m goes to National and Tate galleries

News (UK)

A bequest of 18 works of art worth £100m has been made to the National and Tate galleries from the estate of the late Simon Sainsbury.

A reclusive member of the supermarket dynasty, Sir Simon’s bequest is the most generous gift to the nation in recent times.

The works of art are to be split between the National Gallery and the Tate. The National Gallery, where Sir Simon funded the much-admired Sainsbury Wing with his brothers, will receive five works by Claude-Oscar Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin and Henri Rousseau. An additional 13 paintings have been donated to the Tate, including works by Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Thomas Gainsborough.

Sir Simon, who died last year, left the rest of his collection to his partner Stewart Grimshaw.

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