Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum of American Art got quite the late holiday gift. The Walton Family Foundation is giving the museum $20 million over five  years. It’s the largest donation in the museum’s history.

Alice Walton, the daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, was on the Amon Carter’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2015. She was close friends with Ruth Carter Stevenson, the museum’s founder and longtime board president. Stevenson died in 2013, and the gift is in her name.

The museum will use the money for new and enhanced exhibitions, and additional education efforts.

Here’s the press release:

$20 Million Endowment Received by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art from The Walton Family Foundation

FORT WORTH, Texas—The Amon Carter Museum of American Art announces that it has been awarded an unprecedented endowment from the Walton Family Foundation. The museum will receive $20 million over five years. This gift honoring the Amon Carter’s longtime President of the Board Ruth Carter Stevenson (1923–2013) is the largest in the museum’s history and establishes an endowment to support future exhibition and education initiatives.

Patron of the arts and philanthropist Alice Walton served on the Amon Carter’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2015. Walton is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and is on the board of the Walton Family Foundation.

Karen Hixon, Amon Carter Board of Trustees President and Stevenson’s daughter, remarked on this monumental contribution, “Mother and Alice were great friends and shared an extraordinary love and knowledge of art—visionaries both. Alice has been an important part of the Amon Carter and its board for many years. I am thankful for all she has taught me, and words cannot express my gratitude for this gift from the Walton Family Foundation in Mother’s honor.”

As a result of the endowment, curators will have the opportunity to host and organize temporary exhibitions that foster new scholarship, are innovative in the field, or complement themes and artists present in the Amon Carter’s permanent collection; education staff will enhance programs for both students and teachers.

“This amazing endowment allows us to expand our offerings beyond what our current operating budget provides, and to engage the community on a deeper level,” says Andrew J. Walker, executive director. “The Amon Carter is truly grateful for this tremendous demonstration of support.”

End

About the Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson (1906–2005), the Amon Carter opened in 1961 and houses a preeminent collection of American art including painting, photographs, sculpture and works on paper. The collection spans early 19th-century expeditionary art to mid-20th-century modernism and includes masterworks by artists such as Frederic Church, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keeffe and John Singer Sargent. The museum is one of the nation’s major repositories of American photography and holds the archives of luminaries such as Laura Gilpin, Eliot Porter and Karl Struss. It is also home to nearly 400 works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, the two greatest artists of the American West. Admission is free. Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sunday 12–5 p.m. Closed Mondays and major holidays. www.cartermuseum.org @theamoncarter

About the Walton Family Foundation

For nearly three decades, the Walton Family Foundation has focused on addressing social and environmental issues by giving in three distinct areas: K-12 education, freshwater and marine conservation, and quality of life initiatives in the foundation’s home region. In 2015, the Walton Family Foundation invested more than $375 million in domestic and international projects. To learn more, visit www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org.