Tate Modern given Joan Mitchell work in biggest donation since 1969

The Guardian

03-04-2025

Tate Modern has announced its most significant single donation in more than 50 years, a monumental triptych by the American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell that she named after her German shepherd dog, Iva.
The huge six-metre work, painted by Mitchell in 1973, was given to Britain's national art collection by the billionaire Miami real estate magnate Jorge M Pérez and his wife, Darlene.
The artwork was hung in their bedroom, they told reporters on Thursday, until they were persuaded by a two-year 'conversation' with the Tate director, Maria Balshaw, to donate the work to the central London institution. 'She's a good saleswoman,' joked Pérez.
Balshaw said the Mitchell triptych was the single most significant gift to the institution since Mark Rothko donated nine large murals in 1969. Its value has not been revealed, although a smaller work by Mitchell sold for $29m in 2023. Pérez described it as 'priceless'.
The new work will hang next to the museum's Rothko room, where five of his murals are displayed, and Pérez said the two artists' paintings 'form an incredible partnership. They just talk to each other.'
Like the art of many female artists of the period, Mitchell's work had been underestimated in her lifetime, Balshaw said, and the museum had 'missed the boat' by not acquiring more of her works – it previously owned only some prints and a smaller, late painting – when they were more affordable. 'By the time we realised the importance of the work, they were too expensive for a UK public institution to buy,' she said.
'So this [gift] has changed the British national collection permanently,' she said. 'It's such a significant rebalancing – it's not just filling a gap, it is taking us into a new representation of work of that period.'
An acquisition of this scale would not be possible without 'an act of truly extraordinary generosity' by philanthropist donors, Balshaw acknowledged. About 30% of Tate's funding comes from government grants, but it is still struggling with a post-pandemic financial squeeze and recently announced job cuts in an effort to tackle its funding deficit.
She had been in discussions with the philanthropist couple – who have also given donations worth more than $100m to Miami's Pérez Art Museum, now named in their honour – since they visited an installation by the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2023, she said.
'I can tell you that the conversation about gifting this important work focused on the millions of people that will see this work here in London,' said Balshaw. 'You have given the British public and all our visitors from around the world a truly extraordinary thing, and I am deeply grateful.'
Having extended their bedroom to accommodate the work, parting with it had been 'a very difficult decision in many ways', said Pérez. He added: 'We've always collected with the intent that art should be exposed to the most people that they can possibly be exposed to.
'Because I think art changes people's lives. It's changed our life for the better. It helps us understand the world better in different ways. It makes us part of the creative process that the artists go through, once you deeply get into them. So having the public feel the same thing that we feel is very important.'
When asked for his interpretation of the work's connection to the painter's German shepherd, Pérez said: 'Actually, I think it's got much more connection to landscape than to a dog. These are just her expressions of a mood, a landscape.'
The real estate magnate was born in Argentina to Cuban-exile parents, before moving to Miami and making his fortune developing apartment blocks. Although previously a friend of Donald Trump before he ran for the US presidency, he is a longtime Democratic party supporter and fundraiser, and has been an outspoken critic of Trump's policies, saying in December that his proposals for mass deportations risked leading to a 'police state'.
A previous request by the president to help him build his Mexico border wall was similarly rebuffed, with Pérez calling it 'idiotic'.
As well as the painting, the couple have also made a 'multimillion-pound' donation to endow a curatorial post at Tate dedicated to African art, and have promised to make further donations of works in their collection by African and Latin American artists.
Pérez hopes the couple's gifts will inspire other wealthy individuals to make donations. 'The public sector is swamped with ever growing needs, and it all can't be solved by the government,' he said. 'People who have been very fortunate, like Darlene and I have been, have an obligation to give back to that community that is giving you so much. So we really hope that gifts like this get other people to think about giving.'