Art Collection
In 1996, Lannan launched a museum gift program, offering pieces from our collection of over 1,000 modern and contemporary artworks to U.S. museums and making these important works accessible to significantly larger and more diverse audiences. We designed the program to increase the exposure, accessibility to, and scholarship of artists in the foundation’s holdings.
Between January 1996 and August 2000, Lannan gifted 1,000 drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and video installations to 78 museums in twenty-six states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico. The gift program aimed to match works with institutions where the pieces would become an active part of the collection. In the fall of 2000, Lannan Foundation decided to sell twenty-three works at auction to support ongoing acquisitions and projects in contemporary art.
Between 2000 and 2021, Lannan continued to acquire and commission new work on a limited basis. Among the acquisitions of this period are works by Guy Tillim, Victoria Sambunaris, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Fred Sandback, and Susan York. Gifts included donations of work by An-My Lê to the Art Institute of Chicago, On Kawara to Dia:Beacon, and Siah Armajani to the Walker Art Center.
In 2022, Lannan announced plans to spend out and close by 2032. At that time, the remaining art collection of 1600 works was gifted to 50+ institutions, completed in 2024.