Detroit Institute of Arts Receives Over 2,000 Artworks from Silverman Estate
6July 29, 2026
TheDetroit Institute of Artshas received a major gift of over 2,000 contemporary and modern artworks from the estate of Gilbert B. and Lila Silverman, two prominent Detroit art collectors. The gift includes artwork made by nearly 500 different artists, including Diane Arbus, Jenny Holzer, Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, Bruce Nauman, Diego Rivera, Bill Viola, and Andy Warhol.
Salvador Salort-Pons, the director of the DIA, said in a press release that the mammoth gift from the Silvermans is among the most significant in the museum’s history, and that many of the recently-acquired works will be on display when the museum’s galleries reopen from renovations in November.
The Silvermans have previously contributed significant donations to institutions across the United States. In 2019, the Museum of Modern Art in New York received eight hundred works from artists including John Cage, Yoko Ono, and Eva Hesse from the Gilbert B. and Lila Silverman Instruction Drawing Collection.
Gilbert Silverman was a member of the DIA’s board of directors for years, and in 2008, 130 works from the Silvermans’ collection were donated to the museum via the couple’s Fluxus Foundation. Beginning in 1977, the considerable and influential Silverman Collection of Fluxus artwork was built by scholar Jon Hendricks with the help of the couple. Gilbert Silverman passed away in 2016, while Lila Silverman passed away in 2020.