JERUSALEM, ISRAEL.- The Israel Museum today announced the gift of 17 important Dada and Surrealist works from renowned collector and scholar Arturo Schwarz, whose 1998 donation of over 750 Dada and Surrealist works of art transformed the Israel Museum into one of the world’s largest repositories for Dada and Surrealist art. This gift includes rare paintings, drawings, collages, and photographs by prominent Dada and Surrealist artists, including Raoul Hausman, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, André Breton, Victor Brauner, Jean Arp, Salvador Dali, Wifredo Lam, André Masson, among others.
Israel Museum Director James Snyder states: “In its short history of just under forty years, the Israel Museum has developed an impressive collection documenting the history of 20th century art, in large part through the generosity of great cultural patrons worldwide. Arturo Schwarz is exemplary in this regard, and his long history of gifts to the Museum, capped by this latest contribution of 17 additions to our Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art, has given us world recognition in this field.”
Schwarz’s deep involvement in the Surrealist movement as a publisher and gallery owner, and his personal acquaintance with many of its members, has given him a singular connection to this historical movement. A longtime friend of the Israel Museum, Schwarz has made significant contributions to the Israel Museum both as a collector and as a scholar, particularly in the fields of modern and Israeli art. He recently authored Mordecai Ardon: The Colors of Time, published by the Israel Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition Mordecai Ardon: Landscapes of Infinity, on view in Jerusalem from February 20 through August 31, 2003. 
Schwarz states: “I take great pride in the Museum’s achievements and in having the opportunity to donate my Dada and Surrealist collection in 1998. My latest gift of additional works underscores my commitment to the Israel Museum and my admiration of its dedication to the cultural enrichment of the State of Israel during these challenging times.”
All 17 works from this recent gift are now on display in the Museum’s Sam and Ayala Zacks Gallery for Modern Art. Several of the works were included in the first comprehensive exhibition of the Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art, Dreaming with Open Eyes, organized by the Israel Museum and shown there from December 2000 through June 2001. Following its debut in Israel, the exhibition traveled to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, and The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; it travels to the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in December 2003.
The Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection at The Israel Museum
Arturo Schwarz’ gift of over 750 Dada and Surrealist paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures, objects, photographs, and prints in 1998, together with a library of over 1,000 books, pamphlets and artifacts donated by him to the Museum in 1991, has made the Israel Museum a global repository for the study and display of Dada and Surrealism. Prior to its donation to the Israel Museum, the Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection was considered the most comprehensive private collection of this material in the world. The Museum is further distinguished by its strong representation of more than 30 works by Marcel Duchamp, building upon the set of Duchamp ready-mades given to the Museum by Schwarz in 1972 as his first gift.