The NACF, the UK’s leading art charity, which raises money from membership subscriptions, donations and legacies, has been appointed guardian of the collection on the instructions of the executors of the estate of the artist’s late wife, Elisabeth, who died last year.
The bequest comes almost exactly 70 years after they married.
The collection contains the entire contents of the artist’s studio at the time of his death, including two major early works, The Fall of Lucifer, from 1933, and The Artist and His Wife (1939).
Works will go to the Tate Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum and the V&A among others.
Cecil Collins collection given to the nation in his widow’s will
UK: The National Arts Collection Fund has announced that it is to oversee the bequest of 250 works from the studio of the visionary painter Cecil Collins (1908-89) to about 50 galleries and museums across the country.