Photo by Katherine Wetzel, © 2009 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Conrad Felixmüller, "Political Speaker" (1920–21)

Marc Chagall Wassily Kandinsky Egon Schiele Oskar Kokoschka Emil Nolde Kathe Kollwitz Paul Klee Max Beckmann

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The Ludwig and Rosy Fischer collection, assembled between 1905 and 1925 in Frankfurt, includes some 15 oil paintings; 20 sculptures; 50 watercolors, gouaches, and drawings; and 170 prints. The list of included artists reads like a who's who of the German Expressionist movement: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Wassily Kandinsky, August Macke, Max Pechstein, Conrad Felixmüller, Otto Müller, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, and Marc Chagall.

The VMFA has a small number of related works in its permanent collection, but many of the Fischer artists will enter the collection for the first time. The works were acquired under a special gift-purchase agreement with Ludwig and Rosy Fischer's heirs. The VMFA, currently undergoing a $150 million expansion, reopens May 1, 2010.