Reves Collection Records

In January 1982, Harry Parker, Irvin Levy and George Charlton, trustees, traveled to Monte Carlo, France to view a collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings and decorative arts that was looking for a home. The three met with Mrs. Wendy Reves, custodian of the collection, at Villa LaPausa and were impressed by the quality of the collection. Mrs. Reves, who was born in Marshall, Texas liked the men, calling them her "three musketeers."

The Museum and Mrs. Reves entered into negotiations to acquire the collection. Mrs. Reves had prerequisites for donation including that the museum construct a replica of six rooms of Villa LaPausa in which to display the collection, exactly as it had been in her home. The museum agreed to the conditions since it was able to accommodate the addition of a Villa replica because the construction of the new museum building downtown was still in progress. Edward Larrabee Barnes, architect of the new museum, was able to design an additional pod to house the Villa and additional galleries for decorative arts. A donation agreement was signed in 1983, the collection arrived in Dallas in April 1984, and The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection opened to the public in November 1985. Two catalogues of the collection have been produced, one in 1985 for the opening, and a second in 1995 to coordinate with a special exhibition of the Reves Collection called Impressions of the Riviera: Masterpieces from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection. More information on Wendy and Emery Reves and the history of Villa LaPausa can be found in the 1985 catalogue. Wendy Reves was a flamboyant woman who was a major supporter of the Decorative Arts Department that the Reves Collection inaugurated, and visited the museum almost yearly until the late 1990s. Mrs. Reves passed away in 2007.