MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.- Art collectors Marc and Eva Besen concentrated on the works of young and relatively unknown artists. Over the years they made friends with many of them, including Fred Williams, Clifton Pugh, Bert Tucker, John Perceval and John Olsen. It began with the purchase of a small oil painting called Nightscape by Dawn Syme from a St Kilda gallery in 1951 and it quickly became a passion for contemporary Australian art. But now their dream of sharing their joy with "our fellow Australians" has been realized. The TarraWarra Museum of Art was just launched at its temporary home at the Metropolitan Meat Market Art Center, in North Melbourne. In December of next year, the permanent museum will be opened at TarraWarra, in the Yarra Valley, with the aim of illustrating the story of modern Australian art from the 1950s. The project is the first visual arts museum to flow from tax incentives introduced by the Howard Government to encourage philanthropy. Prime Minister John Howard said the Besens exemplified "the finest philanthropic traditions of our country", adding that he hoped the museum would be "the harbinger of others". Mr. Besen used the words of Pablo Picasso to express the importance of visual arts: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."