European Modern Art to 1950

The Detroit Institute of Arts stewards a broad and significant collection of modern European paintings, sculpture, decorative arts from 1850 to 1970. The collection reflects the early interests of the museum’s founders and patrons. Progressive museum trustees with daring tastes established an avant-garde focus early on, purchasing the first paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Self-Portrait, 1887) and Henri Matisse (The Window, 1916) to enter a public American museum collection.