In an unprecedented partnership, the Musee de Louvre in France has agreed to an extended partnership with the High Museum in Atlanta to exhibit some of the Museum’s finest works of art.

According to Cassandra Champion, Manager of Public Relations at the High Museum, this new partnership with the Louvre "grew out of a longstanding friendship and history of exchange between the museums’ directors, Michael E. Shapiro and Henri Loyrette." The directors had worked together in 1999 when the High presented "Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums." Many of the works came from the collections of the Musee d’Orsay, where Loyrette was director at the time.

"The partnership will enable the High to present great works of art not available in the Museum's collections or at any public venue in the region," says Champion. "The collaboration also continues the High's tradition of partnering with major international museums – such as The Bargello in Florence, the Munch Museum in Olso, and The Krvller-M|ller Museum in the Netherlands, among others – to bring the world's great art to Atlanta."

The High-Louvre partnership will include the following components:

* A series of loans of important works of art (the checklist is still under development, but among the works scheduled to come to Atlanta are works by Raphael, Ruebens, Rembrandt, Velazquez and Watteau)

* Student exchanges and educational initiatives

* Staff, curatorial and operational exchanges

Built around specific themes and periods, the High will present a series of long-term special presentations of art from the Louvre from fall 2006 through 2009. The exhibitions will be housed in the Museum’s new Anne Cox Chambers Wing, a 10,000 square foot gallery scheduled to open in November 2005.

The High Museum of Art, the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States, has a permanent collection of more than 10,000 works of art, including extensive holdings of 19th- and 20th-century American art; significant collections of European and decorative art; and burgeoning collections of photography, modern and contemporary art, folk art and African art.

The High’s Media Arts department produces annual film series and festivals, as well as video installations to accompany exhibitions. The permanent collection has nearly tripled in size since 1983 with significant recent additions, many of which will be on view for the first time when the expanded campus opens next November.

Highlights from the Museum’s recent acquisitions include:

* African Art – William Kentridge, “Pond at Deer Acres,” 2002

* American Art – Ben Shahn, “The Church is the Union Hall,” 1946

* Decorative Arts – Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, “Red/Blue Chair,” 1922-1923, designed 1918

* European Art – Albrecht Dürer, “Knight, Death, and the Devil,” 1513

* Folk Art – Nellie Mae Rowe, “When I Was a Little Girl,” 1978

* Modern and Contemporary Art – Roy Lichtenstein, “House III,” 1997

* Photography – Philip-Lorca diCorcia, “Head #19,” from the “Heads" series, 2000