FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.- NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale has received a major painting by internationally renowned artist Julian Schnabel. The painting, titled Portrait of Olatz Schnabel, 1997, is a promised gift to the museum by Olatz Schnabel, the artist’s former wife. It will be unveiled at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale during a patrons dinner on March 11 along with four other paintings by the artist from Ms. Schnabel’s collection that will be on loan to the museum. All five paintings will be on view at the museum from March 12 through November 1, 2015.

Ms. Schnabel made the gift following the museum’s highly successful presentation of the exhibition Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen, (October 12, 2014 - February 1, 2015), which featured the figurative paintings of Julian Schnabel alongside those of French artist Francis Picabia and Danish artist J.F. Willumsen. NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale was the sole U.S. venue for the exhibition, which originated at Denmark’s J.F. Willumsens Museum. Ms. Schnabel’s gift also acknowledges the long-time recognition of Julian Schnabel’s work by Bonnie Clearwater, Director and Chief Curator of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.

Julian Schnabel enthusiastically endorsed Ms. Schnabel’s generous gift to NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, noting that the selection of works in her collection reflects her sensibility and that the grouping of paintings she has placed on loan to the museum will provide context for future acquisitions planned by the museum for its permanent collection, reinforcing one of the collection's areas of concentration; the fertile post-World War II European avant-garde and its ongoing connection with subsequent generations of artists.

Julian Schnabel noted, “I had a rewarding experience with the presentation of Café Dolly at NSU Art Museum, and I am delighted that Olatz has chosen to recognize the museum and its director Bonnie Clearwater for such a strong commitment to my work.”

Bonnie Clearwater stated, “One of the themes of the Cafe Dolly exhibition was that of the artist and his muse. Olatz, a model and actress, has inspired some of Julian Schnabel's most breathtaking paintings, including the promised gift, Portrait of Olatz Schnabel, 1997, and two of the paintings on loan; the abstract painting Untitled (Los Patos Del Buen Retiro V), 1990-1991 and Portrait of Olatz, 2004. On behalf of the museum I extend my deep appreciation to Olatz Schnabel for making this extraordinary gift."

Portrait of Olatz Schnabel, 1997 (oil, resin on canvas, 108 x 102 in.) is a monumental portrait that depicts Olatz Schnabel in the tradition of early 18th century paintings in which an elegantly dressed, full-length standing figure occupies the center of the composition while looking out and engaging the viewer.

The four works on loan to NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale are: Portrait of Olatz, 2004, a second portrait that depicts her in a simple brown dress; Untitled (Los Patos Del Buen Retiro V), 1990-91, a large abstract work painted on red velvet that incorporates her name; Christ’s Last Day (X-ray), 2008, from Schnabel’s series of paintings that uses X-rays; and Untitled (Goodbye Mike Kelley), 2012, his homage to the late L.A. artist Mike Kelley, the first in a series in which an image of a stuffed goat with a rabbit on its head is transposed onto 19th-century Dufour wallpaper.