An Investment in Pleasure: Fifty Years of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens Collection

About this event

Sep 20, 2026 - Jan 10, 2027

Presented by: Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions

Organized by: Dixon Gallery and Gardens

When Margaret and Hugo Dixon moved into their home at 4339 Park Avenue in Memphis in 1941, they began to assemble a small and cherished collection of paintings that suited their tastes and brought them joy. From the start they purchased works of the highest quality, and while Mr. Dixon especially negotiated the terms for each work, the couple ultimately considered their collection, which included works by Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse “an investment in pleasure,” something to uplift and inspire them each day.

That spirit has been a guiding principle for collection-building at Dixon Gallery and Gardens since opening to the public in 1976. Founding director Michael Milkovich sought to expand upon the Dixons’ legacy by adding works by Impressionist painters including Felix Cals, Camille Pissarro, and Henri Rouart. In the 1990s, director John Buchanan negotiated spectacular acquisitions, including a trove of works by Jean-Louis Forain and the collection of Texas rancher Montgomery Ritchie, which included paintings by Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and John Singer Sargent. The appointment of Kevin Sharp as sixth director of the Dixon in 2007 brought a renewed focus on acquisitions. Under his leadership, more than 600 works have been added to the collection, including Jacques-Émile Blanche’s Portrait of Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Erràzuriz (1890), purchased in memory of John Buchanan, the Charlotte Stout Hooker Collection of English and Continental Ceramics, and the landmark 2017 gift of twenty-nine American paintings from Susan and John Horseman. The founding of the Curator’s Circle ten years ago in 2016 also signaled a new concept for collecting at the Dixon—one where donors share in the decision-making process. Over the past decade, the Curator’s Circle has purchased works by Charles Courtney Curran, Fernand Léger, Jane Peterson, and Charles Ethan Porter, among many others, adding depth and diversity to our beloved collection.

The capstone exhibition of our fiftieth anniversary year, An Investment in Pleasure celebrates and illuminates the evolution of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens permanent collection by installing more works than ever before in the order in which they came to the collection. From the initial Dixon bequest to our newest 2026 acquisitions, visitors to the Dixon this fall will rediscover the paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that have been such a source of joy and pride to Memphis over the past fifty years. At the same time, new acquisitions are propelling our institution into a bright and exciting future.