Jorge M. Pérez, the Miami-based real estate developer and art collector, has donated more than 80 photographic works to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The donation includes pieces by artists such as Thomas Ruff, Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, Isaac Julien, Candida Höfer, Vik Muniz, Tania Bruguera, Renata Lucas, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and Wolfgang Tillmans. The works are currently on view in the museum's exhibition "Language and Image: Conceptual and Performance-Based Photography from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection" through January 11. Museum director Franklin Sirmans noted that photography has been integral to PAMM's collection since 1996 and that the donation strengthens the museum's holdings in conceptual and performance-based photography, including the Düsseldorf School.
This donation matters because it further cements Jorge Pérez's role as one of the most influential philanthropists in the Miami art scene and beyond. Pérez and his wife Darlene have now given at least $60 million to PAMM, including a $40 million gift in 2011 that led to the museum's controversial renaming, and an additional $25 million in 2023. The donation also follows a recent gift of 36 works by African and African diaspora artists to Tate, along with a multi-million dollar endowment for curatorial research. These moves underscore Pérez's strategic influence in shaping institutional collections and his focus on Latin American, Caribbean, and African diaspora art.