Every year, hundreds of donors give works of art to enhance the MFA’s encyclopedic collection—a remarkable outpouring of generosity. This selection of featured gifts of art represents a sampling of transformative donations from visionary collectors. To learn more about these and other objects at the MFA, search the collection.
Featured Collections
Gift of Henryk Ross’s Lodz Ghetto Photographs
48 photographs by Henryk Ross (1910–1991) offer an extraordinarily rare glimpse of life inside the Lodz Ghetto during the Holocaust.
Wan-go H. C. Weng Collection
The Wan-go H. C. Weng Collection is the the largest and most significant gift of Chinese paintings and calligraphy in the MFA’s history, comprising 183 objects.
David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection
The gift of the Estate of David Rockefeller from the Collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller comprises 52 works of art by Native American artists and works representing Native American culture.
Van Otterloo and Weatherbie Collections
Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie have made a commitment to give their exceptional collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art to the Museum—a donation that will constitute the largest gift of European paintings in MFA history. The Boston-area collectors plan to give the MFA not only their art collections, but also funding to establish a Center for Netherlandish Art at the MFA, the first of its kind in the US. In addition, the Van Otterloos will give a major research library to serve as a resource for the Center.
Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection
This collection encompasses every major era of Japanese art, as well as select Chinese, Korean, Islamic, African, and Anatolian works.
Daphne Farago Collection
Since 2004, Daphne Farago has given or pledged more than 1,200 works of contemporary craft across a range of media, including fiber, glass, wood, ceramics, metal, and a renowned collection of studio jewelry.
Lane Collection
This transformational gift of works by 20th-century masters includes photographs by Ansel Adams, Charles Sheeler, Edward Weston, and paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe.
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Collection
This gift highlights three centuries of Jewish decorative arts and ritual objects, ranging from Hanukkah lamps to embroidered silk.