Nearly 100 works from one of Europe’s great modern art collections arrive in South Florida. On view from October 29, 2026–February 28, 2027.
(MIAMI, FL — August 17, 2026) — Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to present Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen, opening October 29, 2026. The landmark exhibition brings together nearly 100 works from the Museum Berggruen and the Berggruen family collection, alongside select works from PAMM’s permanent collection, to present one of the most important European collections of twentieth-century Modern art ever assembled. It is among the first museum exhibitions in Miami centered on canonical European Modernism at this scale, and PAMM’s first exhibition devoted exclusively to Modern masterpieces.
The collection owes its name to the passionate art dealer, collector, and émigré Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), who spent over four decades assembling masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, and Paul Cézanne, among others. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin, Berggruen fled Nazi Germany to the United States in 1936 before eventually returning to Europe, where he developed enduring friendships with many of the twentieth century’s most influential artists. His collection reflects not only exceptional connoisseurship, but also a deeply personal vision shaped by exile, migration, and cultural exchange that defined the postwar period. Seen together, the works illuminate the artistic innovations of the 1900s while offering a powerful lens through which to understand the moments that shaped them.
“Presenting this exhibition at PAMM is both an institutional milestone and an opportunity to broaden access to some of the defining works of twentieth-century art,” said PAMM Associate Curator Maritza M. Lacayo. “By bringing the Museum Berggruen collection into conversation with works from PAMM’s permanent collection, we’ve created a presentation that reflects Miami’s unique cultural position while inviting audiences to experience these familiar masterpieces through new historical and geographic perspectives.”
Watercolor, pencil, pen, and ink on primed paper on cardboard. 11 1/5 x 13 x 1 3/4 inches overall. On long-term loan from the Berggruen family. Courtesy Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Photo: Dietmar Katz
This is the first time that PAMM has dedicated its largest galleries entirely to Modern art. Organized thematically around still life, portraiture, interiors, landscape, and the emergence of Cubism, the exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, collage, and prints to reveal unexpected conversations across artists and movements. Rather than separating works by artist or chronology, the installation highlights shared artistic questions and formal innovations, encouraging visitors to encounter familiar masterpieces in new ways.
Alongside defining works of European Modernism are works from PAMM’s permanent collection of Latin American Modern masters—including Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, and Wifredo Lam. The presentation draws connections across Europe and the Americas, opening new dialogues around topics like exile and migration, themes that hold particular resonance in Miami and reinforce PAMM’s role as a place where global art histories can be experienced through contemporary perspectives.
Among the exhibition’s highlights are Pablo Picasso’s La Lecture (Woman Reading) (1953), which reflects the artist’s lifelong engagement with portraiture and the expressive possibilities of color and form; Portrait de Jaume Sabartés (Portrait of Jaume Sabartés) (1904), a celebrated example from Picasso’s Blue Period; Paul Klee’s luminous Landschaft in Blau (Landscape in Blue) (1917); Henri Matisse’s iconic cut-out Éléments végétaux (Vegetal Elements) (1947); Intérieur d’Atelier à Nice (In the Studio in Nice) (1929), one of Matisse’s celebrated studio interiors; Paul Cézanne’s Portrait de Madame Cézanne (Portrait of Madame Cézanne) (c. 1885); and Alberto Giacometti’s signature elongated sculptures, among many other masterworks spanning nearly a century of artistic innovation.
“One of the great strengths of this international tour is that each presentation is shaped by the context of its host institution. As the works travel in changing constellations and enter into new dialogues, they reveal connections across cultures, institutions, and histories,” said Museum Berggruen Curator Natalie Zimmer. “In this sense, the tour has become a kind of laboratory for seeing modern art differently—challenging established interpretations and opening the collection to new audiences and communities around the world. The interpretation at PAMM expands the conversation beyond European Modernism to broader histories of artistic exchange across the Americas. We are delighted to see Heinz Berggruen’s collection continue to resonate in new ways and to reach audiences in a city whose international character makes it an especially meaningful place for these stories to be told.”
The exhibition is presented with lead support from Kenneth C. Griffin and Griffin Catalyst, Patricia and William Kleh, Aaron and Dorothy Podhurst and an anonymous donor. Additional support from Danielle Lambert, the Ashken Family Foundation, Karen H. Bechtel and William M. Osborne, Carol Crapple, Diane and Werner Grob, Nedra and Dr. Mark* Oren, Elissa Kramer, Greg and Leslie Ferrero, Patricia M. Papper, Esta Stecher, Mary Wolfson and Robert Rosenberg, Tina Raja, Chris and Suzanne Armstrong and Rafael and Marijean Miyar is gratefully acknowledged.
ABOUT MUSEUM BERGGRUEN
One of Germany’s most important centers for modern art, Museum Berggruen is part of Neue Nationalgalerie (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz/Prussian Heritage Foundation) in Berlin and holds one of the world’s most significant collections of works by Pablo Picasso. The collection was assembled by renowned art dealer and passionate collector Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), who was born and raised in Berlin and later spent more than five decades in Paris, where he developed close relationships with many of the leading artists of his time. Acquired by the German state from Berggruen in 2000, the collection forms a natural complement to the holdings of its parent institution, the Neue Nationalgalerie, particularly through its exceptional works by Picasso as well as Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti. While the museum is closed for a major renovation, highlights from the collection have been touring internationally since 2022. To date, the tour has attracted more than 1.5 million visitors across Japan, China, Europe, Australia, and the United States.
ABOUT PAMM
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), led by Sandra and Tony Tamer Director Franklin Sirmans, promotes artistic expression and the exchange of ideas, advancing public knowledge and appreciation of art, architecture, and design, and reflecting the diverse community of its pivotal geographic location at the crossroads of the Americas. The 42-year-old South Florida institution, formerly known as Miami Art Museum (MAM), opened a new building, designed by world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron, on December 4, 2013 in Downtown Miami’s Maurice A. Ferré Park. The facility is a state-of-the-art model for sustainable museum design and progressive programming and features 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space with flexible galleries; shaded outdoor verandas; a waterfront restaurant and bar; a museum shop; and an education center with a library, media lab, and classroom spaces.
