Edvard Munch, Madonna, 1895–1902, watercolor on lithograph, 23 7/8 x 17 1/2″. Photo: President and Fellows of Harvard College/Harvard Art Museums.
The Harvard Art Museums have received a trove of sixty-four works by Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch. The works—sixty-two prints and two paintings—were donated by the estate of collectors Phillip Straus, who graduated from the university in 1937, and his wife, Lynn Straus. Also included in the gift was a 1982 print by Jasper Johns titled Savarin. Philip, a portfolio manager, died in 2004; Lynn died in 2023.
“We are immensely grateful to Philip and Lynn Straus for their generosity and stewardship over these many years,” said Harvard Art Museums director Sarah Ganz Blythe in a statement. “Their enthusiasm for the work of Edvard Munch ensures generations of students and visitors can experience and study his prints and paintings here in Cambridge.”
