is, in the case of artists, primarily an expression of their strong will and their determination, however great the cost, to achieve the extraordinary or to realise visions and dreams. They inspire our admiration time and again ,for they presuppose not only talent and ability but also unlimited self-confidence.

All great artistic achievements - literary ones, too, such as Emile Zolas novel Joie de vivre - are, whatever the opposing forces, based upon a a joy in life in wihch we can share and which proves irresistible time and again. It was such a joy that, exactly fifty year ago, caused us to cover the wobbly shelves in our antiquarian bookshop with hessian and to stage our first exhibitions. We have since attempted to express that joy in over 250 exhibitions, including Monet, Cézanne, Klee, Matisse and Picasso Retrospectives; "90 Works on Paper" to celebrate Picasso's 90th birthday in 1971, for which we were allowed to select from among his own holdings; exhibitions on artists such as Giacometti, Rothko, Lichtenstein, Johns, Stella, Rauschenberg, Baselitz as well as thematic exhibitions like "Moon and Space", "Fauves", "Cubists", "Dream of the Absolute" (e.g. Mondrian, Brancusi and Malevitch), "Exploring Abstraction", "L'éternel féminin", "Surrealismus, Dream of the Century" (e.g. Miró, Max Ernst and Magritte), "Magic Blue", "Who is afraid of Red?" and "I love Yellow".