Apollo Advent Calendar: Day 23

Apollo is counting down to Christmas by celebrating some of the greatest acquisitions, gifts and bequests of 2013. We’ll take a closer look each day at one of the outstanding objects, works of art or collections shortlisted for the Apollo Awards Acquisition of the Year.

Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Theo Wormland Collection of Surrealist and New Figuration works
Pictured: The Enigma of Desire, or My Mother, My Mother, My Mother, 1929
Salvador Dalí (1904–89)
Oil on canvas, 110.5×150.5cm
Gift of the Theo Wormland Foundation

The collection of German fashion magnate Theo Wormland (1907–83) has been on long-term loan to the Pinakothek der Moderne for 30 years, and in 2013 was bequeathed to the museum. It includes Surrealist masterpieces by the likes of Ernst, Dalí and Magritte, and a group of works from the mid-century New Figuration movement. The museum, which reopened in September following eight months of renovation, celebrated the bequest with an exhibition of its highlights (until 26 January 2014). Included is Dalí’s painting The Enigma of Desire, which evokes the Catalan landscapes of his youth and the loss of his mother in 1921.