ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art will be the only museum in the Southeastern United States to host an extraordinary exhibition of 84 well-known but rarely lent masterpieces by 19th and 20th-century masters, including Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, and Piet Mondrian drawn from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Holland. Van Gogh to Mondrian: Modern Art from the Kröller-Müller Museum will be on view at the High Museum of Art from October 19, 2004—January 16, 2005. Co-organized by the High Museum and the Kröller-Müller Museum, this exhibition marks the first time in history that an American exhibition has been drawn exclusively from the esteemed Dutch museum founded by patron Helene Kröller-Müller. Van Gogh to Mondrian is sponsored by UBS, the global financial services leader.

With a significant group of some 20 paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh as the core of the exhibition, Van Gogh to Mondrian tells the fascinating story of one of the 20th century’s greatest patrons of modern art, architecture, and design. One of the most important promoters of modernism in Holland, Helene Kröller-Müller created a remarkable ensemble of paintings by the most significant figures of the early modern period, including Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Georges Seurat, and Vincent van Gogh. Working with leading Dutch modernist artists and architects in the 1910s and 1920s, Mrs. Kröller-Müller and her husband, Anton, envisioned a future museum where the public could enjoy and study the development of modern painting from Pointillism and Cubism to Neoplasticism.

“Partnering with international institutions to bring the highest caliber art to American audiences is an integral part of the High’s mission,” said Michael E. Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director. “The Kröller-Müller Museum’s interest in collaborating with us to bring these masterpieces to the U.S, some for the very first time, is extremely gratifying for the High and furthers our commitment to bringing some of the world’s most treasured art to the Southeast.”

Influenced by her relationship with noted art historian H.P. Bremmer, Helene Kröller-Müller’s educated eye and vast wealth provided the resources for creating a remarkable collection in a short time. Her interest in modern painting drew her to the leading Symbolist, Neo-Impressionist, and Cubist painters of the period. Kröller-Müller came to see art as evolving from 19th century Realism towards an increasing “idealism” of spirituality and inner clarity. An early devotee of van Gogh (1853-1890), she created the largest private collection of the Dutch artist’s works, ultimately owning more than 90 paintings and 185 drawings. The Kröller-Müller Museum’s van Gogh collection is second only to that of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in size and quality.

Van Gogh to Mondrian features a grouping of 12 major van Gogh paintings and 10 drawings from the Kröller-Müller collection. Of these, one has never traveled to this country (“Self Portrait,” 1887), and others were last seen in special loan exhibitions 50 or more years ago. This very significant selection of paintings includes iconic images such as “The Café Terrace at Night” (1888), “Sorrowing Old Man” (1890), and portraits of Joseph and Augustine Roulin. Piet Mondrian is represented in the exhibition with seven paintings spanning a period from 1913 to 1919 and reflecting key moments in the artist’s evolution. The exhibition also includes architectural designs and models of the Kröller-Müller Museum produced by Hendrick Petrus Berlage, Henry van de Velde, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as well as furniture commissioned by the Kröller-Müllers from Berlage and a magnificent stained-glass window designed by Bart van der Leck.

David A. Brenneman, the High’s Chief Curator and Frances B. Bunzl Family Curator of European Art, explains the rareness of the exhibition: “Van Gogh to Mondrian expresses the artistic view point of one particular collector, Helene Kröller-Müller, and her passion for accumulating one of the most comprehensive collections of van Gogh, illustrating the evolution of his work with high quality pieces such as “The Café Terrace at Night”, “The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Rémy”, and a significant amount of his drawings.”

UBS, one of the world’s leading financial firms, is the sponsor of Van Gogh to Mondrian in Atlanta. “UBS is pleased to support the High Museum of Art and to serve as Presenting Sponsor for this outstanding exhibition,” said Mark B. Sutton, Chief Executive Officer of UBS Wealth Management, USA. “We have a long-standing commitment to fostering the arts and supporting the communities in which we live and work, and we are proud to help bring Van Gogh to Mondrian: Modern Art from the Kröller-Müller Museum to our clients, employees and the community of Atlanta and the southeastern United States.”