This sculptural sauceboat of soft-paste porcelain from the Sevres factory, 1756, masks its function as a wave surging over a bit of coral and seaweed.

BOSTON, MASS. – The private and foundation collections of Eli and Edythe Broad, with works tracing the critical trends in art from the 1960s to the present, are ranked among the foremost holdings of contemporary art in the world. Drawn from these remarkable sources, “Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: Four Decades of Art from the Broad Collection,” will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), from July 21 through October 20.

The exhibition will feature approximately 100 works by 24 artists, including Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol.

“Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons” captures the remarkable range and quality of the Broad collections, highlighting significant groups of works by contemporary artists. This method of collecting allows viewers to experience the artworks within the contexts of certain genres including: American Neo-Dada and Pop, German Neo-Expressionism, painting and conceptually-based work from the 1980s, and cutting edge, present-day works from Los Angeles.

Along with iconic Pop Art of the 1960s, “Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons” presents important works by artists who first came to prominence in the 1980s, offering new art historical perspectives on this decade. Jeff Koons’s transformations of the banal into the venerable, the graffiti of Jean-Michel Basquiat addressing marginality, race and commodification, and the staged photographs of Cindy Sherman are seen in the rare company of seminal works from the pivotal movements that preceded and followed them.

With a strong representation of works by contemporary German artists Anselm Keifer, Stephan Balkenhol and Hans Haacke, the exhibition also reflects a growing awareness of international trends that emerged in the US art wold of the 1980s. “Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons” also include works by internationally recognized, Los Angeles-based artists John Baldessari, Sharon Lockhart, Charles Ray and Edward Ruscha.

Highlights of the show include Andy Warhol’s “The Two Marilyns,” 1962; “Flag,” 1867, by Jasper Johns; Roy Lichtenstein’s “I…I’m Sorry,” 1965-66; Jeff Koons’s “Rabbit,” 1986; and Charles Ray, “Fall ’91,” 1992.

Active collectors since the mid-1970s, Eli and Edythe Broad of Los Angeles established The Broad Art Foundation in 1984 to foster the public appreciation of contemporary art. Operating as an educational and lending resource, the foundation makes its collection of more than 650 artworks available to museums and other public art institutions around the world. Continually growing, the foundation acquires an average of 35 works a year, with selections based on the artwork’s potential contribution to the last quarter of the Twentieth Century and continuing importance in the Twenty-first.

“Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons” is organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Cheryl Brutvan, the Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal, and Bruce A. Beal Curator of Contemporary Art, MFA, will organize the Boston venue of the exhibition.

The exhibition was at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on October 7, 2001, through January 6, 2002. It traveled to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from March 17 through June 2, before coming to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it will be on view from July 21 through October 20.

A catalog featuring 130 color and 25 black and white images, published by LACMA and Harry N. Abrams Inc, will accompany the show. Illustrating both the exhibition as well as a number of related works from the Broad collection, the catalog will feature four critical essays by prominent art historians, as well as an interview with Eli and Edythe Broad.

For information, 617-267-9300.