The I. M. Richdale Trust recently provided $80,000 to acquire Frances Hodgkins' painting The Farmer's Daughter (Portrait of Annie Coggan) from England.
The painting is a portrait of Hodgkins' friend Annie Coggan and was painted between 1929 and 1930.
It is the first time the painting has been seen in New Zealand.
Since 1988, nearly $260,000 has been distributed from the I. M. Richdale Trust for the purchase of 10 works of art by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery director Elizabeth Caldwell said bequests had helped the gallery build an enviable collection.
"The strength of the collection we know today rests on past bequests just of this kind.
"In the 125-year history of the gallery, we have built a collection of extraordinary strength, and the areas of greatest strength in the early collection were made possible through bequests," Ms Caldwell said yesterday.
The portrait was given to its subject, Annie Coggan, by Hodgkins and had remained in the Coggan family until now, she said.
DPAG marketing manager Tim Pollock said the acquisition was a coup for the gallery.
"It was also sought by the Tate, in London, which reflects the esteem in which Frances Hodgkins' work is held," he said.
"This portrait is a tremendous acquisition for us for several reasons: It is a very good example of its type, and works of this quality and subject, and with such a sound and personal provenance, are seldom available on the market."
