Giving 'Kindred Spirits' a Home, Walton to Build Art Museum in Arkansas

Published: May 16, 2005

Charles Willson Peale Winslow Homer Asher Brown Durand Edward Hopper Shiny Penney Petra Trenkel Web Exclusive: Winslow Homer No Room to Answer

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BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS—BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS - When Alice Walton purchased Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits last week for an eye-opening $35 million (the highest price registered for an American work), she was not thinking of herself.

The 1849 painting, the Walton Family Foundation has announced, will be installed in the Wal-Mart family's planned Crystal Bridges Art Museum, slated to open in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2009.

Designed by Boston architect Moshe Safdie, the museum will focus exclusively on American art of different genres and will showcase traveling exhibits as well as a permanent collection amassed by the Waltons.

Other works in the collection include an 18th-century Charles Wilson Peale portrait of George Washington and paintings by Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, according to the foundation.

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Yahoo! Press Releases: "Walton Family Foundation Announces Plans to Build Major Museum Featuring American Art"