The Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine has received a donation worth more than $100m from the art collectors and honorary alumni Peter and Paula Lunder. The gift adds over 1,000 works of art to the museum’s collection and will fund the launch of the Lunder Institute of American Art, a research centre that aims to advance critical and creative research in American art and related fields.
The donated works span around 500 years and include paintings, sculptures, photographs, works on paper and other media by more than 150 artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Claes Oldenburg and Ai Weiwei. The Lunders, who previously gave more than 500 works of arts with an estimated value of $100m to the college and museum in 2007, say that the liberal arts college is “the perfect fit for our collection” and they have worked with the museum’s curatorial team “to strategically identify works that deepen its holdings”, according to a press release.
The collecting couple has a long history with the college. Peter Lunder graduated from Colby in 1956, and both received honorary degrees in 1998. They have served on the museum’s board of governors since 1995, the same year they endowed a curatorial position and pledged the lead gift for the museum’s Lunder Wing, which opened in 1999. Peter Lunder, also currently serves on the board of the Terra Foundation.