John Pritzker, a Top 200 collector and Metropolitan Museum of Art trustee, has donated 188 Dada and Surrealist works by 37 avant-garde artists to the Met. The Bluff Collection includes pieces by Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, and others, spanning collages, paintings, photographs, objects, and rare publications. Many works will feature in the museum's upcoming exhibition “Man Ray: When Objects Dream,” opening September 14, which includes 35 Man Ray pieces from the collection. The gift also establishes a research program funded by the John Pritzker Family Fund.
The donation significantly strengthens the Met's holdings in modern and contemporary art ahead of the opening of the Tang Wing, cementing the museum as a key destination for Dada and Surrealist scholarship. It underscores the role of major collectors in shaping institutional collections and highlights the enduring influence of early 20th-century avant-garde movements. The gift also enables deeper research and public engagement with these transformative artists.