LOS ANGELES, CA.- At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art today, L.A.-based philanthropist and business leader A. Jerrold Perenchio announced his agreement to bequest the most significant works of his collection to LACMA’s planned new building for its permanent collection. The promised gift will dramatically transform the museum’s collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European art. Consisting of at least forty-seven works including paintings, works on paper, and sculpture, the majority of the collection is focused on the 1870s through the 1930s—an era that gave rise to some of the most radical and inventive moments in the history of art.

The distinguished collection, rarely seen in public, elucidates the road from Impressionism to Modernism. Highlights include three significant canvases by the great French Impressionist Claude Monet—a classic painting of water lilies, Nymphéas (c. 1905), the grand still-life, Asters (1880), as well as one of the four versions of the iconic Le Jardin de l’artist à Vétheuil (1881); the first painting by Edouard Manet to enter LACMA’s collection, the portrait of M. Gauthier-Lathuille fils (1879); Au Café Concert: La Chanson du Chien by Edgar Degas (1875); and three paintings by Camille Pissarro, among them the early Impressionist Le Déversoir de Pontoise (c. 1868). A Post-Impressionist standout by Pierre Bonnard, Après le repas (1925), joins a group of important twentieth-century works, including Pablo Picasso’s early drawing Tête (Head of Fernande) (1909), two exceptional paintings by Fernand Léger, and two by René Magritte, including the exceptional Les Liaisons dangereuses (1935).

News of the historic gift follows on the heels of a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors yesterday to support LACMA’s plans for a new museum building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, through a plan to contribute $125 million and future financing, to be matched by $475 million in private support. The new building, which will replace four of the museum’s seven current buildings, is intended to present LACMA’s vast and wide-ranging permanent collection, as well as conservation and study facilities.

Mr. Perenchio said, “LACMA has made tremendous progress over the past seven years under Michael Govan’s leadership, along with the support of its Board of Trustees and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. With the newly proposed Peter Zumthor building poised to deliver LACMA through the twenty-first century and beyond, I decided now was the perfect time to announce that I intend to leave the most important part of my art collection to the museum. Hopefully, my gift will serve as a catalyst to encourage other collectors to do the same and also stimulate major private donations to ensure that the Peter Zumthor building is built in a timely manner.”

“Gifts of this magnitude are incredibly rare, especially in the fields of Impressionist and Modern art,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “2015 will be LACMA’s 50th anniversary, and it is simply astounding to see how far this museum has come in just a few decades. Mr. Perenchio’s generous gift is a cornerstone of our future. Without this collection LACMA could not tell the story of Impressionism and the birth of Modern art. Mr. Perenchio’s artworks will become some of this museum’s greatest highlights.”

“We are excited for the transformative effect a new building by Peter Zumthor will have on Los Angeles,” said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, “but what is most important is the art inside the building, available to all Angelenos and attracting cultural tourists from near and far to LACMA. Our hope is that the County’s contribution to LACMA’s future, paired with Mr. Perenchio’s historic gift of art, will spur others in the community to support LACMA’s future.”

The Perenchio collection is the latest in a series of significant art acquisitions in the last seven years. Since 2007 LACMA has added more than 19,000 objects to its collection of over 120,000 works from ancient times to the present. This includes the Janice and Henri Lazarof collection of Modern art, the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon collection of photography, made possible by a gift from Wallis Annenberg, collections of European fashion, ancient American art, and art from the Pacific Islands, as well as individual masterpieces by the likes of Thomas Eakins, Maruyama Ōkyo, Henri Matisse, and others.

Terry Semel and Andy Brandon-Gordon, Co-Chairs of LACMA’s Board of Trustees, added, “The Board of Trustees is overjoyed to accept this priceless collection of European masterpieces from one of L.A.’s most exceptional citizens. Now, we will honor Mr. Perenchio’s wishes and partner with LA County and complete the fundraising necessary to build the magnificent Zumthor addition to LACMA. “

“A museum’s heart and soul is the art that resides there,” said Lynda Resnick, LACMA Trustee and Chair of the museum’s Acquisitions Committee. “This amazing gift gives us a reason to rejoice as our 50th anniversary approaches next year. Mr. Perenchio is an Angeleno through and through, giving generously to causes that have moved our city and citizens forward, all of which have been given anonymously until now. Putting Mr. Perenchio’s name on this gift lets everyone know of his refined taste in amassing this stunning collection, and provides insight into the man behind the gift as well.”

Select works from Mr. Perenchio’s promised gift will be on view at LACMA in the spring of 2015, coinciding with the museum’s 50th anniversary.