From the mid-1920’s to the end of the 1950s, Samuel Henry Kress (1863-1955) and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation (est. 1929) amassed one of the most astonishing collections of European old master paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts ever assembled through the efforts of a private individual.

Even more remarkable was the manner in which the Kress Collection was shared with the American people. 1,800 works of art were donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. All of the rest – another 1,300 pieces – was distributed across the continent. Kress regional collections of 20 to 60 old masters brought the first Italian paintings to communities where Kress five- and ten-cent stores served the public, and Kress study collections introduced European art to institutions of higher learning. Smaller gifts of one to three works spread the pleasure of art even further.

Initiated by Samuel Kress in the early 1930s, the distribution of art was completed, under the guidance of his brother Rush Kress, by the Kress Foundation between 1947 and 1961.