Opening reception for Degas Collection at Purdue scheduled for Sept. 17

Purdue University will host an opening reception Sept. 17 at the Purdue Memorial Union for a collection of 74 sculptures by French impressionist Edgar Degas. Valued at more than $21 million with a market value of as much as $52 million, the collection represents the largest gift in the history of Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts.

The Degas Collection at Purdue will be installed over the summer on the Memorial Union’s second floor in the space that housed the former Sagamore Restaurant.

The collection was donated to the university by Purdue alumnus Avrum Gray (ME ’56) and includes La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen), one of the artist’s most iconic works.

“The Degas gallery will be an opportunity for Boilermakers, visitors and the community to experience Degas’ bronzes in an intimate environment purpose-built for this collection,” says Arne Flaten, head of the university’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance. “The gallery also will raise awareness of the larger collection of exceptional art at Purdue, and hopefully it will encourage future donors to consider Purdue as an excellent home for their collections or support.”

The bronze Little Dancer in the Degas Collection at Purdue was cast in 1997 from a previously unknown plaster believed to have been made from Degas’ original wax model.

All 74 bronze sculptures that make up the Degas Collection were cast by Paris’ Valsuani foundry from a series of wax, clay and plaster figures that were found in the artist’s studio after his death.

“Research suggests that the most successful scientists also have a deep appreciation of the arts,” says David A. Reingold, senior vice president for policy planning and Justin S. Morrill Dean of Liberal Arts. “With our large population of STEM students, we believe the Degas Collection will spur creative thinking in meaningful ways. We are grateful to Av Gray for his gift and look forward to sharing the Degas Collection with the entire Purdue community.”

Gray purchased the Degas collection approximately 15 years ago and housed them in his suburban Chicago home for more than a decade.

“Purdue was very good to me in one way in particular: Purdue taught me a way to think,” Gray said in 2023. “I want people to enjoy (the sculptures) the way I have enjoyed them. I thought Purdue would be the place to do that. I was pleased to know Purdue was putting the collection on display and that it would bring to students an additional perspective of life and art that you just don’t get when you’re looking at gears and pulleys. I want people to be able to come, see, enjoy and learn.” 

Purdue will release the hours of operation for the Degas gallery at a later date.