ABOVE: detail from Camille Pissarro’s The Louvre Under Snow (1902), on loan to the Tate Britain from the National Gallery—but will it stay there?

The Art Newspaper reports that a longstanding firewall between Tate Britain and the National Gallery regarding the time periods each museum collects may be coming down. A 1996 agreement between the two institutions determined that the National would collect works before 1900, and the Tate would collect works after 1900. To that end, the National loaned 14 post-1900 paintings to the Tate, where they have stayed. But an expansion of the NG has its directors thinking that the museum should push forward in time a bit.

Could that mean that that the National will ask for its stuff back after the breakup? The Art Newpaper thinks so, citing Pissarro’s The Louvre Under Snow (above) and several others that may get clawed back. Several ideas are apparently floating around: the two museums could let their collection periods advance, but keep the separation at about 100 years; or the 1900-mark may be crossed chronologically but not thematically, with the NG continuing to collect works that are rooted in 19th century styles. Either way, it looks like a little friendly competition is in the offing.

LINK: The Art Newspaper > National Gallery may start acquiring 20th-century art