In 1979, the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History (le Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel) received a significant donation from James Adolphe Yvan Amez-Droz (1888-1976). Yvan Amez-Droz built up a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books and objets d’art in Paris, where he was based. By donating the modern part of this collection, the art lover wishes to show his affection for Neuchâtel, his family’s birthplace.
Named “The Yvan and Hélène Amez-Droz Bequest” by the donor’s wishes to associate his name with that of his sister, the collection comprises 69 works: 45 paintings, 18 drawings, two monotypes, and four sculptures. It combines a range of French artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from open-air painting to the early École de Paris.
The collection centres on the famous Impressionist artists Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Auguste Renoir. The exhibition also highlights the fertile artistic period that preceded the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. It includes works by representatives of realism (Gustave Courbet) and art nouveau, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.