MFAH Hosts U.S. Debut of Internationally Touring Exhibition Featuring Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen, Berlin, opening Sunday, May 20, 2026
With nearly 100 works, the exhibition highlights the careers of Picasso and Klee and showcases Matisse’s signature cut-outs, Giacometti’s haunting, elongated sculptures and paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque
Houston – May 15, 2026 In May 2026, the Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston will host the U.S. debut of a selection
of modern masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee,
Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti and other figures of
the postwar European avant-garde, assembled by the
famed gallerist and collector Heinz Berggruen. The
exhibition explores Berggruen’s relationship with the
artists, literary community and art-market network to
which he was intimately connected in postwar Paris,
through his Berggruen & Cie gallery on Rue de
l’Université. Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from
the Museum Berggruen will be on view at the MFAH May
20 through September 13, 2026.
“I am honored to bring to the U.S. and to Houston these
exceptional masterworks from the collection of the
Museum Berggruen in Berlin,” comments Gary
Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of
the MFAH. “It is especially rewarding to introduce our audiences to the life and legacy of Heinz Berggruen—a pioneering art dealer, publisher and collector whom I was privileged to know and work with for more than
Pablo Picasso, The Yellow Sweater, 1939, oil on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
two decades. His exhibitions on the rue de l'Université were a must for every art collector visiting Paris, and his museum in Berlin has become a pilgrimage point for connoisseurs.”
“This exhibition is a chance to discover some less-familiar works by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, reflecting the personal taste of a discerning collector,” notes Ann Dumas, consulting curator of European art at the MFAH. Dena Woodall, the museum’s curator of prints and drawings, adds, “The exhibition blends both a monographic and theme-based focus; it is the first time the museum is showing the work of Paul Klee in such
depth—from his mysterious, lyrical drawings to his studies of color and form, stemming from his time as a teacher at the Bauhaus.” About the Exhibition
Between the 1940s and the 1990s, Heinz Berggruen assembled a singular collection of hundreds of modern masterworks, many of them directly from the artists. As a dealer, he became his own best client, forming his collection guided by his particular tastes and affinities. Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen presents more than 95 of the works – paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures – that Berggruen collected. The MFAH exhibition combines thematic areas of focus, including still life, portraits, the human figure, and landscapes, with in-depth presentations devoted to individual artists, highlighting the entire careers of Picasso and Klee and showcasing Matisse’s signature cut
Paul Klee, Sealed Lady, 1930, pen and watercolor on paper on paperboard, Museum Berggruen, Neue
Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
outs, Giacometti’s haunting, elongated sculptures and paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque.
A gallery of the exhibition will be devoted to the story of Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007). Born into a Jewish family in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, Berggruen studied literature at university
and, in the 1930s, began to write on culture for German newspapers. In 1936 he fled Nazi persecution;
emigrating to the United States, he initially worked in
California as a freelance arts journalist before securing a
curatorial post in 1939 at the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art. After World War II, Berggruen returned to
Europe, and in 1947 founded his gallery in Paris,
representing many of the artists whose works he began to
collect privately. In 1980 he retired from his gallery and
concentrated on expanding his own collection. In 2000,
Berggruen placed the collection with the German state; it is
now housed in the Museum Berggruen in Berlin
Charlottenburg as part of the Berlin State Museums/Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage. The
Henri Matisse, Vegetal Elements, 1947, gouache cutout on paper mounted on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie.
Organization and Funding
Museum Berggruen is currently closed for renovation and its collection is touring internationally.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum Berggruen – Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Lead Corporate Underwriter:
Lead foundation underwriting is provided by
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
Major support is provided by:
Bobbie Nau
Generous support is provided by:
Jacquelyn Barish
Martha and Richard Finger
Barbara Kaplan and Joyce Z. Greenberg
Anonymous
Melza and Ted Barr
Linnet F. Deily
Marvy Finger Family Foundation
The Radoff Family
Sara Dodd-Denton and Will Denton
Michael and Krista Dumas
Marianne and Joseph Geagea
Jesse Jones II and Terry Wayne Jones
Mr. and Mrs. Rodney H. Margolis
Kathy and John Orton
Elizabeth and George Passela
Esther and Gary Polland
Leslie and Russ Robinson
Merrianne Timko
Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff
About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Spanning 14 acres in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the MFAH main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present collections of American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art, with its Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art. www.mfah.org
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