The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation

What The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation does

The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation is a private, non-profit grant-making organization established in 1995 by Maria-Gaetana von Spreti Matisse (Tana), wife of the late art dealer and collector Pierre Matisse. Following Tana's death in 2001, the bulk of her estate — including a substantial art collection built around Henri Matisse's masterpieces and works by artists associated with the Pierre Matisse Gallery (Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Balthus, Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Yves Tanguy) — passed to the Foundation. In 2003, the Foundation donated over 100 key works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the remainder constitutes the Foundation's current collection, which is loaned to museums and made available for scholarly research and exhibitions.

The Foundation's primary mission is funding arts and arts education in New York City. It operates three distinct grant programs targeted at NYC's five boroughs: (1) an open-application Arts and Arts Education Grants program, (2) an invitation-only Arts Education Impact Grants program that supports up to five-year competitive awards with rigorous assessment, and (3) the invitation-only Arts Education Schools Choose Grants program (initiated in 2012) that distributes multi-year support to NYC public middle and high schools to counter diminished public arts funding. Beyond NYC, the Foundation has extended into scholarship support via a $1 million partnership with UNCF for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous college students.

The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors (President David H. Horowitz, Secretary Olivier Bernier, Treasurer Alexandra Farkas, plus Emeriti members) and operated by a 5-person staff led by CEO Alessandra Carnielli, headquartered at 1 East 53rd Street in Manhattan. Revenue derives from investment of endowment assets — primarily the remaining Matisse collection and financial holdings — rather than commercial activities; grant-making budgets (e.g., a $1.5M Enterprise Funding Award) suggest annual outflow in the low-to-mid single-digit millions. No technology platform, AI capability, or commercial revenue stream is associated with the entity; pricing and marketing channels are not applicable to its non-commercial operating model.

Name

The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation

Legal name

THE PIERRE AND TANA MATISSE FOUNDATION

Website

https://matissefoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation is a private New York-based non-profit that awards arts and arts education grants across NYC's five boroughs, manages a 20th-century art collection including works by Henri Matisse and Pierre Matisse Gallery artists, and supports scholarly research and museum exhibitions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Foundation / Arts Education Grants

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

Keywords

• Arts education grants
• Grant-making foundation
• Art collection loans
• Museum exhibition support
• Nonprofit foundation

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Endowment: The Foundation was established in 1995 and funded by Maria-Gaetana von Spreti Matisse (Tana), who left the bulk of her estate to the Foundation in 2001 following her death. The primary assets are works from the Matisse collection. Revenue is generated through the investment of endowment assets, not through commercial activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation is a private grant-making foundation that awards Arts and Arts Education Grants, Arts Education Impact Grants (multi-year, invitation-only), and Arts Education Schools Choose Grants (multi-year, invitation-only) to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations serving the five boroughs of New York City, with priority on programs for children and youth in underserved schools and communities. The Foundation also curates and loans works from its remaining 20th-century art collection to museums for exhibitions and scholarly publications, and supports scholarly research in the arts.

Product overview

The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation is a grant-making organization that operates three distinct grant programs: Grants for Arts and Arts Education, Arts Education Schools Choose Grants (initiated in 2012), and Arts Education Impact Grants. All grants support visual and performing arts education in New York City. Additionally, the Foundation manages and loans works from its art collection, which includes masterpieces by Balthus, Carrington, Chagall, Giacometti, Matisse, Miró, and Tanguy. The Foundation also supports scholarly research in the arts and awards art-related project grants to museums, libraries, and universities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arts and Arts Education Grants Grants awarded to NYC-based nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations that provide arts education services to children and youth in local underserved public schools and community settings. The program operates via an open Letters of Inquiry (LOI) application process.
• Arts Education Schools Choose Grants Invitation-only, cohort-based grant program distributed annually over a five-year period to NYC public middle and high schools, supporting integration of arts education into regular student curriculum and giving principals the ability to measure the effects of arts programs on their school populations.
• Arts Education Impact Grants Competitive, invitation-only grants awarded for up to five years to organizations that help develop and implement arts education programs in NYC schools and communities, including the establishment of art education curriculum and rigorous assessment of program effectiveness.
• Art Collection Loans Loans of works from the Foundation's 20th-century art collection to museums for special exhibitions, cooperating with specialists when its holdings can make meaningful contributions to publications and exhibitions. Available to curators, museums, and scholarly researchers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 key works donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2003 - one of the greatest single bequests of twentieth-century art in the museum's history

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• UNCF (United Negro College Fund)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2020The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation established a $1 million scholarship program with UNCF to support Black, Latinx and Indigenous college students residing in New York City. This partnership reflects the Foundation's commitment to supporting youth from communities who experience injustice and discrimination.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation: Artist-founded foundation supporting art, arts education, and a range of social justice causes. Comparable as a legacy artist foundation combining collection stewardship with philanthropic grantmaking.
• Agnes Gund Foundation: Philanthropy of art collector Agnes Gund focused on social justice and arts education, including large-scale art-for-fundraising initiatives. Comparable high-profile arts philanthropy with strong NYC ties.
• The Joan Mitchell Foundation: NYC-based foundation established from painter Joan Mitchell's estate that supports individual artists, arts education, and artist communities. Closely mirrors the Matisse Foundation's artist-estate endowment model and NYC arts-education grantmaking focus.
• The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: Artist-founded visual arts grantmaker that funds exhibitions, scholarship, and arts education across the U.S. Highly comparable as a single-artist legacy foundation that combines art collection stewardship with grantmaking for visual arts.
• The Jerome Foundation: Funds early-career artists and nonprofit arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City. Directly comparable NYC-focused arts grantmaker with similar programmatic architecture.
• Pollock-Krasner Foundation: Provides financial assistance to individual working artists and administers grants to nonprofit arts organizations. Comparable artist-estate foundation with grantmaking central to its mission.

Broad incumbents

• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: Largest U.S. arts-and-humanities philanthropy funding museums, performing arts, and higher education. Operates in the same arts space but with much broader scope and resources than the Matisse Foundation.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies: One of the largest U.S. philanthropies with major arts and arts-education programs including NYC cultural institution support. Overlaps with Matisse Foundation's NYC arts focus but operates at vastly greater scale across all philanthropic areas.
• The Ford Foundation: Major international philanthropy with significant arts and culture programming including NYC arts infrastructure. Comparable mission overlap in arts-education funding but vastly larger and more diversified.

Regional players

• The New York Community Trust: NYC's largest community foundation awarding grants across arts, education, health, and social services within the five boroughs. Directly comparable NYC-restricted grantmaking architecture with a broader program mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-pierre-tana-matisse-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation