On March 13, 2024, Seattle University in Washington received an art collection valued at $300 million, the largest donation ever made to a university in the United States.
Collector Richard Hedreen donated this impressive collection, consisting of more than 200 works of art dating from the 15th century to the present, in honor of his late wife, Elizabeth Ann Petri Hedreen, who was a student at this Jesuit Catholic university . The campus, which is home to about 7,200 students, is located a short distance from downtown Seattle.
What is notable about this donation is not only its size, but also how it was handled compared to other large collections. Unlike collections of figures like the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen that were sold at auction, this collection will remain intact in the city where he lived.
“It is a remarkable teaching collection,” said university president Eduardo Peñalver in a telephone interview. Additionally, he added, “We hope to have it on our campus so that our teachers and students can use it across the curriculum to foster their own learning and discussion.”
Richard Hedreen said: “Betty and I always felt like we were custodians of the works of art we acquired, holding them in trust for a larger purpose.” The gift reflects the university’s connection to Seattle’s arts community and its special focus on the arts and humanities.
The collection includes significant works by giants of art history, such as Titian, Jacopo da Pontormo, Jan Lievens, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Luis Meléndez, Thomas Gainsborough, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Indiana.
Additionally, it contains prints by Lucian Freud, photographs by artists such as Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Irving Penn, Louis Stettner and Andy Warhol, and six paintings by Cecily Brown.
To house and display this world-class collection, Hedreen also donated $25 million to build a new museum on campus.
Edgar González, vice president of university advancement, reported in an email that the university has already begun talks with an architect for the planned museum and that the project is expected to take three to five years to complete. González wrote: “The initial financing will allow us to start the project immediately.”