'Monet to Moore:' Traveling Exhibit to Make Raleigh Its First U.S. Stop

While the show will eventually move on, one important piece will call North Carolina home. A sculpture called "Women of Venice" by Alberto Giacometti now belongs to the North Carolina Museum of Art.

"It was made at the height of the career of the sculptor who was withHenri Moore, the greatest sculptor of the 20th century," says exhibit curator Rick Brettell.

The other works now on display at the museum have new homes in galleries around the world. They are gifts from the Sara Lee Corporation, whose founder, Nathan Cummings, had a penchant for the works of artists likeMonet,Picasso,GauguinandPissarro.

"But as luck would have it, these works became quite important, perhaps too important for a business corporation to keep in its offices," says Michael Murphy, Sara Lee Foundation president.

The list of potential gift recipients was narrowed down to places where Sara Lee had big business interests.

"And thank God that Sara Lee has a huge presence in North Carolina," says museum director Larry Wheeler.

Rick Brettell knows the story behind each masterpiece.

"It was Roger de la Fresnaye and not Picasso, and notBraquewho introduced cubism to the larger public. This painting was in that exhibition," he explains.

Impressionists, modernists and cubists are all together under one roof but soon to be separated and shared with the world.