Ford estate donates paintings

The estate of Henry Ford’s only granddaughter has given $15 million worth of art -- including works by Picasso, Matisse and Renoir -- to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

After the works are examined at the museum’s conservation laboratory, many will be incorporated into the Detroit Institute’s reinstallation plans for 2007, officials said.

Josephine Clay Ford died June 1 at 81. Among the paintings and drawings donated by her estate: Pablo Picasso’s “Girl Reading,” Edgar Degas’ “Seated Nude Woman Brushing Her Hair,” Henri Matisse’s “Anemones and Peach Blossoms,” Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Coco,” Marc Chagall’s “The Green Circus Rider” and Amedeo Modigliani’s “Girl in a White Blouse.”