The Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center have jointly acquired Nan Goldin's *Stendhal Syndrome* (2024), a slideshow-based video work with an original soundtrack. The acquisition was funded by the Curators’ Council Fund for Women Artists and the Jean MacMillan Southam Fund at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The work will make its Canadian debut at the Vancouver Art Gallery. First presented at Gagosian's New York gallery in September 2024 as part of Goldin's exhibition "You never did anything wrong," the piece pairs two decades of the artist's photographs with a personal voiceover, exploring the emotional power of art. It features images of classical, Renaissance, and Baroque masterpieces from institutions such as the Galleria Borghese, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Prado, interwoven with portraits of Goldin's friends, family, and lovers.
This joint acquisition matters because it marks a significant institutional commitment to a major contemporary artist's work, bridging a Canadian museum and a U.S. art center. The piece itself challenges hierarchies in art history by juxtaposing Goldin's intimate photography with canonical Western masterpieces, raising questions about beauty, desire, and memory. The purchase also highlights the role of dedicated funds—like the Curators’ Council Fund for Women Artists—in supporting women artists' work entering public collections, and underscores the growing trend of museums collaborating on acquisitions to share costs and expand access to important artworks.