Amedeo Modigliani, “Jean Cocteau,” 1916. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Throughout his life, Henry Pearlman developed quite the eye for Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces. His art collection, which he compiled over the course of three decades with his wife Rose, spans everything from idyllic landscapes by Vincent Van Gogh to moody portraits by Édouard Manet. This fall, art fans in New York will have a chance to experience this renowned collection up close.
Opening on October 2, 2026, at the Brooklyn Museum, Cézanne to Modigliani gathers more than 50 modern European artworks drawn from the Pearlman Collection. Despite its name, the exhibition will not, in fact, only showcase pieces by Paul Cézanne and Amadeo Modigliani, and will instead encompass a wide range of paintings, sculptures, watercolors, and drawings. At the heart of the show, for instance, is Chaïm Soutine’s View of Céret, the painting that first inspired Pearlman’s enduring interest in modernism. Produced between 1921 and 1922, the composition offers an abstract, highly expressionist rendition of the titular Céret, a commune in southern France, and is complete with an earthy color palette.
“This first pleasant experience with a modern painting started me on a road of adventure that has been both exhilarating and satisfying,” Pearlman once said of another painting by Soutine, called Village Square. “I haven’t spent a boring evening since that first purchase.”
Cézanne to Modigliani is as much about its modernists as the Pearlman Collection itself. The exhibition will trace the Pearlmans’ personal history in conversation with the featured art, whether it be through photographs, letters, archival documents, or portraits of Henry created by artists like Oskar Kokoschka and Jacques Lipchitz. Also spotlighted is the collection’s deep engagement with Cézanne, whose landscapes, figural works, and especially watercolors all became pivotal to Pearlman’s curatorial vision.
Notably, several works in the exhibition are entering the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection following the run. Aside from pieces by Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Camille Pissarro, highlights include two paintings by Modigliani. These portraits will stand as the first by Modigliani to enter the museum’s collection, alongside a rare limestone bust, also by the artist. As part of what it calls a “novel agreement,” the Brooklyn Museum will share these gifted works on a “regular basis, making them available to diverse audiences and in different contexts, always accessible to the public.” (LACMA, which hosted Cézanne to Modigliani in early 2025, and MoMA have also signed the agreement as the other recipients of works from the collection.)
“The Pearlman Collection is an exquisite selection of modernist works, and we are thrilled to offer our visitors in Brooklyn a final opportunity to see them all together,” Lisa Small, senior curator of European art at the Brooklyn Museum, said in a statement. “We are particularly excited to spotlight the works that are entering our collection and commemorate a truly momentous gift for our institution.”
Cézanne to Modigliani: Gifts of Modern Art from the Pearlman Collection will be on view from October 2, 2026, to April 18, 2027, at the Brooklyn Museum.
This fall, New Yorkers will have the rare opportunity to experience works by modernist luminaries like Cézanne, Courbet, Degas, Modigliani, and Van Gogh up close.
Édouard Manet, “Young Woman in a Round Hat,” ca. 1877–79. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Amedeo Modigliani, “Léon Indenbaum,” 1916. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Edgar Degas, “After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself,” ca. 1890s. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Amedeo Modigliani, “Head,” ca. 1910–11. Limestone. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Chaim Soutine, “Self-Portrait,” ca. 1918. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Paul Cézanne, “Study of a Skull,” ca. 1902–4. Watercolor and graphite on buff wove paper. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Opening this October at the Brooklyn Museum, Cézanne to Modigliani gathers more than 50 works from the renowned Pearlman Collection, which boasts some of the world’s most iconic Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces.
Jacques Lipchitz, “Acrobat on Horseback,” 1914. Bronze. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “Messalina,” 1900–1901. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Chaim Soutine, “Hanging Turkey,” ca. 1925. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Paul Cézanne, “Trees Forming an Arch,” ca. 1904–5. Watercolor and graphite on buff wove paper. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Paul Cézanne, “Mont Sainte-Victoire,” ca. 1904–6. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
Paul Cézanne, “Cistern in the Park of Château Noir,” ca. 1900. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Bruce M. White)
