Works from some of the most important American Impressionists to have visited the Island are now on display at Bermuda National Gallery, thanks to a donation by former chairman David White.Many of the 51 paintings, spanning more than 170 years, previously took pride of place in Mr White’s own home, but he said he felt they belong to Bermuda and should instead go on public display.It means in total Mr White, a former editor of The Royal Gazette who says he has a collecting bug, has now contributed 77 of the 200 works of art in the Bermuda Collection.Speaking at yesterday’s official opening of ‘Impressions of Bermuda: The David White Gift to Bermuda National Gallery’, Mr White said: “I have never really thought of this collection as belonging to me. I always thought that at some day or other it had to come to Bermuda. I think it’s wound up in exactly the right place.”He told a gathering of around 30 people the pictures “sparkle off the wall” in their new home.“When you see them here under the lights and properly hung, they kind of glow,” he said.Many of the painters are said to have to come to Bermuda to escape the cold United States winters, and their painting style was heavily influenced by French Impressionism.Asked to select a work of particular interest, Mr White pointed to the ‘East End of Elbow’, a 1922 painting by William Chadwick, which depicts an open beach, unrecognisable because the hotel had not yet been built.Chadwick was a leader of the American Impressionist school, and is said to have stylistically influenced local artists such as Alfred Birdsey and Charles Lloyd Tucker, both of whom are also represented in the collection.Explaining what Bermudians would gain from the donation, Mr White said: “They will get a valuable collection of paintings in Bermuda by well-known authors.“The gallery did not have a representative collection of pictures of Bermuda. Now they do.”Bermuda National Gallery chairman Gary Phillips said: “You can’t imagine what it means to have one person be responsible for donating one third of our total collection.”Culture Minister Patrice Minors gave a brief speech thanking Mr White for the donation and calling for others to do likewise to boost the gallery’s collection.“That’s an admirable, selfless act and indeed a challenge to many collectors I believe are gathered in this room to follow suit,” said Mrs Minors.Gallery director Lisa Howie said in a statement: “Mr White’s gift highlights the important role local collectors play in the evolution of the gallery’s permanent collection.“Similar gifts of such magnitude shape collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, itself a city museum, as well as smaller, more bespoke museums such as the Neue Galerie, also in New York.“Museums are indebted to the public for such gifts. Equally important is the museum’s commitment to care for the gifts to the highest standard.”The exhibition of Mr White’s donated paintings are on display from May 1 to November 24.Useful website: www.bng.bm