The Thannhauser Collection, formed by the collector and art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser (1892–1976), introduced to the Guggenheim’s holdings works by such groundbreaking artists as Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Vincent van Gogh, and more than thirty examples by Pablo Picasso. This major gift provides an important survey of late 19th- and early 20th-century modernism. It was during this critical period—as artists sought to liberate art from academic genres and introduce contemporary subject matter—that the avant-garde investigated novel materials and methods, setting the stage for the development of radical new styles.