In May 2009 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki announced a promised gift of 15 works of art through its Foundation, including paintings by Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin and Mondrian – the largest gift ever made to an art museum in Australasia.

The gift, from New York art collectors and philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, represents some of the major European artists of the modern era. Its cultural value places it among the most generous philanthropic acts in New Zealand history.

Now, for the first time in New Zealand and for one week only, New Zealanders have the chance to see 5 of these works FREE as a sneak preview to the Robertson’s Promised Gift.

This exciting preview will include Picasso’s Mere aux enfants à l’orange (1951), featuring his children Claude and Paloma. There is also a work from his great friend, artist George Braque La tasse (1911), and bold works from two other French artists: Henry Matisse's Espagnole (1922), and Andre Derain’s Paysage al Estaque (1906) who were part of the Fauve group (the wild beasts). And hot on the heels of the recent successful exhibition in Melbourne, work by the imaginative Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí Instrument masochiste (1933-34).

For more information on the Julian and Josie Robertson Promised Gift click here.