Remembering Getty Trustee Emerita Agnes Gund

For art collector, philanthropist, and leader Agnes Gund, art could act as a powerful tool—for equity, justice, and inspiration.

Gund, a Getty Trustee Emerita, died at the age of 87 earlier this month. She leaves behind a legacy of generosity, having dedicated her life to championing diverse artists and art audiences and using art to advocate for causes close to her.

Fondly known to friends as “Aggie,” she served as a Getty Trustee from 1996 to 2004 and received, along with Thelma Golden and Richard Serra, the 2018 Getty Medal (now called the Getty Prize), the institution’s highest honor, in recognition of her decades of philanthropic work.

“Agnes Gund was a true visionary who understood the capacity of the arts to transform hearts and minds. She dedicated her life’s work to ensuring that everyone—especially those who need it most—has access to that powerful inspiration,” says Getty President and CEO Katherine E. Fleming. “We’re all beneficiaries of Aggie’s passion and creativity. Her legacy will endure and serve as a compass to guide us. We offer heartfelt condolences to her family and mourn the loss of a dear friend and trusted colleague.”

During her tenure as a Getty Trustee, Gund helped oversee major developments like the opening of the Getty Center and the remodeling of the Getty Villa. “We were fortunate to have her voice and insight at a time when the institution we are today was still being shaped,” says Robert Lovelace, chair of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Gund also served as president of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from 1991 to 2002, where she promoted the expansion of the museum’s collection of contemporary art and created a special fund to support exhibitions by contemporary artists, who would often struggle to secure corporate funding. In 1999 she helped orchestrate a merger between MoMA and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, an artist- and community-centered space whose programs focus on experimental and alternative art.

Increasing access to art for a diverse range of audiences was a theme throughout Gund’s career. When funding for New York’s public school arts programs was cut in 1977, she responded by founding Studio in a School—a nonprofit that brings visual arts education, taught by arts professionals, to schools in all five boroughs of New York City.

An art enthusiast since her teenage years, Gund received a bachelor’s degree in history from the Connecticut College for Women and a master’s degree in art history from Harvard. She soon expressed her love of art by building an impressive art collection after her father left her an inheritance from his real estate business when he died in 1966. She filled her collection with works by contemporary artists like Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Lorna Simpson, and Ellsworth Kelly. She frequently donated her art, including hundreds of pieces to MoMA, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, over her lifetime. She ultimately pledged most of her collection to museums.

Asked by Crain’s New York Business in 2006 why she donated so much of her collection, Gund responded: “It could be because I feel guilty about having so much more than most people. If I can have it, others should be able to enjoy it.”

Gund also put her art collection to work funding social programs. In 2017 she sold Lichtenstein’s Masterpiece (1962) for $165 million and used $100 million to start the Art for Justice fund, which provided grants in support of criminal justice reform. In 2022 she sold another Lichtenstein work, Mirror #5 (1970), for $3.18 million, which she donated to organizations that support reproductive rights.

Getty Chair Emerita Maria Hummer-Tuttle worked with Gund and spoke in her honor when Gund was awarded the Getty Medal.

“Aggie had a profound belief in the nurturing, healing, and inspiring power of art that resulted in more art in public schools and meaningful movement on behalf of criminal justice reform,” Tuttle says. “It was Aggie’s idea to use the proceeds of a Lichtenstein masterpiece to start a fund to help reduce recidivism in the prison system. She knew that art philanthropy matters in a concrete way. She knew the importance of teaching underserved children what art can be in their lives; she knew that art leads us to empathy. She honored Getty by her leadership and by her example.”

Gund’s own compassion and empathy seemed to fuel her efforts to share her many resources with the art world and beyond. Countless artists, students, and museums will enjoy greater access to art thanks to her philanthropy.

“Aggie was a champion of art and artists whose impact will be felt for generations in programs around the country,” adds Lovelace. “She will be greatly missed.”