Dahesh Museum of Art Collection May 7, 2008

The Dahesh Museum of Art Collection contains paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures and books by the most popular artists of 19th and early 20th century Europe. Artists such as Barye, Benouville, Bouguereau, Bonheur, Cabanel, Gerome, Leighton, Picou, Troyon and Vernet explored the subjects preferred by their fellow academicians, and by the growing middle class audience who visited the annual Salons in Europe's major cities. Sumptuous landscapes, exotic "Oriental" scenes, closely observed animals, grandiloquent images from history and myth and intimate scenes of everyday life form the core of the museum's collection. Works by masters acclaimed today, and also by artists known only in their day, are viewed side-by-side, as they were 150 years ago.