The Sainsbury brothers

In April 1985 the three Sainsbury brothers – John, Simon and Timothy – announced their offer to fund a major extension for the exclusive use of the National Gallery.

The Sainsbury brothers' donation resulted in the construction of the building named in their honour, the Sainsbury Wing , which was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 July 1991.

Their philanthropy towards the arts is extensive and includes the bequest of 18 paintings to the nation by the Hon. Simon Sainsbury (1930–2006), including five works to the National Gallery by Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet and Henri Rousseau.

Simon Sainsbury Bequest: Works on Display

Snow Scene at Argenteuil

Claude Monet

In 1871 Monet moved with his family to Argenteuil, a suburb north-west of Paris. During his six-year stay there he painted around 200 pictures of the town and its surroundings. This picture is one of 18 Argenteuil canvases that record the snowy winter of 1874/5. The figures trudging along the roa...

Room 41

Water-Lilies, Setting Sun

Claude Monet

During the final two decades of his life Monet devoted himself to painting the water garden he had created at his home in Giverny, producing around 250 innovative canvases. His paintings became increasingly experimental as he gradually abandoned depictions of the banks of the pond, its Japanese b...

Room 41

Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window

Paul Gauguin

One of Gauguin’s favourite paintings was Cezanne’s Still Life with Fruit Dish, (1879–80, Museum of Modern Art, New York), which he acquired for his own collection around 1880.This still life is a homage to that picture, and repeats many of its elements: the fruit, the pottery, the rumpled tablecl...

Room 25