The National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate have each donated £500,000 towards a £5m endowment fund, to be completed over the next three to five years using their own budgets.
They intend to use the money to acquire works in the same vein, extending Mr d'Offay's concept of Artist Rooms: study rooms dedicated to exploring the work of individual artists.
Artist Rooms is a revolutionary concept that groups works by a single artist together to show how their creativity and thinking has progressed throughout their career.
The programme aims to significantly strengthen a weak area in the nation's art collections, particularly in smaller regional institutions, where galleries have previously failed to acquire works by important post-War and contemporary artists while they were affordable.
The Tate and the National Gallery of Scotland will jointly own and manage the collection, but galleries from across the United Kingdom can apply to show the work.
A flexible approach will allow galleries to exhibit anything from one work for a matter of weeks to a number of rooms for a few months. It is hoped that the collection will remain on constant display, moving around various locations in the United Kingdom from the Orkney Isles to Cardiff.
This is a major logistical challenge to say the least. Details of exactly how the collection will be managed and administered have yet to be announced.
By Anna Brady
