Museum News > 15th Anniversary

January 20, 1995-2010

15th Anniversary

Fifteen exciting years! When the Dahesh Museum of Art opened in 1995, its goal was to create a unique institution, the first American museum dedicated to one of the most neglected areas of art in the Western tradition, 19th-century European Academic art. The Museum began with a formidable collection assembled in Beirut with great insight by Dr. Dahesh and courageously transported to America by the Zahid family at the height of the Lebanese civil war. Following a thorough inventory, conservation work and intensive research the Museum inaugurated a full program of special exhibitions, publications and programs that have become landmarks in the art world. And the Museum maintained its initiative by acquiring important artworks in an undervalued field, expanding its extraordinary collection. In an astonishingly short time, the Museum was welcomed into the membership of the established international museum community.

The Dahesh Museum of Art maintains its active role in exploring the riches of 19th-century Academic art and looks with satisfaction as other museums, universities, scholars and the public expand their own programs in this area. In the next decade, the museum will continue to organize special exhibitions, create ground-breaking publications and collaborate with increasing numbers of institutions as the investigation of Academic art grows. Early collaborations were primarily with American institutions -- and will continue -- but interest now is worldwide and we expect projects to be seen in increasingly widespread parts of the globe.

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